


Past Meets Future

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complicated Relationships, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Force has taken Anakin to the only people that can explain the horrors of times still to come: his son... and Artoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past Meets Future

Anakin came conscious with Artoo warbling in panic in his ears, the canopy of the cockpit turning red hot from re-entry, and a headache so powerful that he really just wanted to black out again. Couldn't do that; he had Artoo to take care of. He shook himself slightly, gasped an, "I'm up, Artoo; I'm up. I'm on it; where are we?"

Artoo whistled and Anakin yelped, "What do you mean you don't know?" even as he worked on the Aethersprite, getting her shields back up and fighting to get her repulsor drive back on. "No, never mind, just hang on!" 

Growling to himself, realizing he was too caught in the planet's grav well to get back out, he decided to just get the hell to the ground and figure out how he'd gone from a couple light-minutes from the nearest star to re-entry on some planet or another in the space of... moments? Hours? How long had he been unconscious?

Didn't matter. He had to get the ship down as intact as possible to call for help.

++++

Luke was working steadily on the lightsaber construction, trying not to get too frustrated over the lack of detail in the steps listed in the journal; Obi-Wan had assumed familiarity with certain concepts.

As he was contemplating the part of 'attuning the crystal to your Force signature', the world seemed to spin with nauseating swirls of color, and the Force threatened to overwhelm him completely in its twisting pulse. He staggered outside, needing the air, even if it was blazing hot out there.

Stepping out, he saw something that set off every alarm bell in his pilot's mind. Small, wedge-shaped craft -- snub fighter, but not one he was familiar with -- coming straight down, nothing graceful about the descent, smoking in more than a few places and hissing. 

If the local garrison ship (and oh, he loathed that there was one here) had shot it, there'd be TIEs or Lambdas after it in moments, and he wasn't letting them have _anyone_ if he could stop it. He ran for the speeder he'd borrowed from Biggs' mother, plotted the trajectory with a couple moments glance, and headed that way. Deeper into the Wastes, not good... but not terrible. Better than towards any of the towns.

+++

Anakin fought the ship all the way down, groaned as it slammed into what felt like ceramcrete on the left, repulsorless side, but it was down and they were alive. "Out, Artoo!" he called, worried about the fuel cells, and popped the canopy to --

\-- air hit him, sand-scent and parching and so familiar, and he groaned in dismay and fury alike. He was sure he knew where they were even before he looked up and found the twin suns of Tatooine overhead. " _Kriff!_ " 

Artoo warbled at him instantly with sympathy and agreement, even as he ejected from the cupola and used his boosters to get himself down on the ground and away from the ship. None of this made any sense… and his proximity warnings went off a moment later.

[Speeder, coming fast, one life-form?] he warned Anakin.

Anakin had matched him in getting on the ground and away from the ship, and then there was that warning and he muttered in annoyance, "Probably some sand-crazy local salvager looking to make a few credits." 

It wasn't that he had no faith in anyone on Tatooine's willingness to be a decent sentient being... it was just that he knew Tatooine. People minded their own business unless there was a profit in it. Well, even with his head screaming at him, he wouldn't have a problem protecting himself and Artoo from one person. 

Luke knew better than to even hit easy blaster-fire range, and slowed the speeder the moment he could easily make out two figures. One looked humanoid, wearing dark clothing in layers, and the other was the distinctive domed shape of an astromech. He pushed the speeder a little closer, until he could make out more details… and his brain balked.

Why did that look like Artoo? Artoo was back at the hut. The R2 series had mostly phased out of use by now, given the supposedly faster computing ability of later series. Luke stretched out his awareness toward the humanoid… and the Force slammed him with a heavy enough sense of Destiny and Change that he had to just stop the speeder and try to breathe through it.

Anakin frowned as the speeder stopped well back, a little surer from the distance that he'd guessed right the first time. Unless the person in it had a long-range rifle, he was perfectly safe -- and even if the person did, the day he couldn't deflect a single shot, or even volley, someone ought to be putting him on a pyre. He took a breath or two to try and calm his pounding head, stretched out with the Force, and pitched onto his knees, flesh hand in the sand. The Force hammered at him, a kaleidoscope of images that came too fast to understand, but one consistent thing was the feeling of 'trust him'. 

That wasn't exactly the easiest thing for him to do, Anakin thought sourly as his head mostly cleared again, and he shoved back up to his feet as soon as he could control his body. _Kriff_ if he was going to be seen on his knees a breath longer than he had to be!

Luke got his senses back, realized he hadn't been attacked, and slowly brought the speeder in closer. The humanoid was probably human. Sturdy boots, fitted leggings, brown tunic under a black over tunic… with armor at throat, chest, and shoulder. Armor that looked entirely too much like the upper part of Vader's armor for Luke's presence of mind, and he had to fight to keep his calm. An ache in his wrist was the only thing he couldn't force down, before he saw the lightsaber at the man's waist.

Luke knew that hilt as well as he knew his own face. He could hear the call of the crystal even, that vaguely buzzing sensation. He'd used that lightsaber!

"Hello?" he called, stopping only a few meters away. "Saw you coming down, and figured I'd better get here, in case the garrison had something to do with it," he added, trying to make himself not react to his suspicions, and unwilling to call on the Force with the way it kept hammering him.

Anakin appraised the speeder (old, battered, had to have been through the wringer a few times to be that beat up) and the man (maybe about his own age? Hair lighter than his, a little darker than the sands, blue eyes about the shade of Obi-Wan's, face somehow disturbingly familiar. Black tunic, open at the throat, heavier tabard over his shoulders, somewhat like Jedi) in i -- 

Garrison? What? 

If he'd missed intel that the Seppies had moved into Tatooine's system after all the work he and Snips did to spike that wheel, he was _not_ going to be happy. He hated this planet, but he'd be damned if the Seps were taking it. A _garrison_. 

Here, and not one this man was at all fond of, from the sound of his voice. Pride warred with the need to seek shelter and intel, and slowly -- with the Force thumping at the back of his head 'trust him' again -- he let need win. "I'm not sure. I came to halfway into reentry with half my systems slagged." 

"That can't have been fun." Luke looked at the ship, then the lightsaber. And that was Artoo, he would swear it! "I'm Luke Skywalker. And you are not possible but the Force is slamming me that this is meant to be."

"You're _who_?" Anakin asked, his voice not at all low. He stared at the stranger in complete confusion, opening up to the Force to test for the lie -- and all he got was the overpowering feeling of 'trust him' that was more like a shout in the back of his head than anything else. He shook his head, winced, and stared at the stranger again. "And what do you mean I'm not possible? Now, _being here_ , on this _kriffing_ planet, that I'll grant you should be impossible, but that's not the same thing. 

"What was that about a garrison?" 

Luke took a steadying breath and closed his eyes. Now, he touched the Force as it connected to this man and himself. What came back made him open his eyes with wariness and wonder alike. "If you're Anakin Skywalker, you're at least twenty-four years in your future.

"And the garrison is Imperial, so I'd like to avoid them."

"Imperial?" he loathed sounding like a broken recording, and more than that he loathed feeling stupid, but what in the names of the stars did the stranger claiming his mother's last name mean by that? There were the Seps and the Republic (and the Hutts and Hapes Consortium), but there was no -- 

\-- did that mean he actually had to accept the idea that somehow the Force had flung him more than his own lifetime into the future? Agreement swelled at him from the Force and he growled to himself, shaking his aching head slightly. "I'm confused as hell and haven't decided to believe you yet, but if there's likely danger incoming, all right, I'll go with you.

"Come on, Artoo, let's go."

Artoo rolled forward and saw to getting in, astounding Luke. "Wait, you have boosters?" That made Luke shake his head. His Artoo was going to be upset. "And I understand not wanting to believe me. I'd have the same problem." He got back in the speeder too.

Anakin got up into the passenger side of the speeder, not liking letting someone else pilot, but at the speeds these moved, when he didn't know the way to -- wherever they were going -- it was probably best to just let the local do the piloting. 

Artoo chirped an indignant 'of course I have boosters' as he looked around the landscape, making quietly disparaging noises about being on this planet again. 

Anakin looked at the landscape, trying to figure out where they were... and his skin crawled as he realized they were in the Jundland Wastes. Too close to -- 

No, that he wasn't thinking of. 

Luke side-eyed the uneasy stir in the Force from beside him, but he continued to the hovel that Ben had kept. He then looked at Artoo as he brought them to a stop. "We might have a problem? My Artoo is inside, recharging," he said. "There's not exactly a written protocol for two beings meeting each other who are the same from different points. So… I don't know how to handle this?

"Well, I don't know how to handle _any_ of it, to be honest."

Artoo warbled as he got himself out, curious. He was here already? An older version of himself?

Anakin flicked his eyes over the place -- tiny little traditional Tatooine under-cliff dwelling, nothing unusual at all -- and then there were those words, and he stared at 'Luke' in complete bafflement. "You keep sounding so very sure that I'm somehow in the _future_. ...and I have to admit, I was halfway across the arm from Tatooine before I blacked out from some kind of Force disturbance, but... the future?" 

Luke nodded at that. "Completely understandable," and he almost said 'father', managing to change it to, "sir. But it is the only thing that makes sense when that fighter was one I did not know, and Artoo… R2-D2… has been by my side almost constantly for the last three and a half, almost four years.

"I serve the Rebel Alliance, fighting the Empire, because the Republic was overthrown around when I was born. And the Senate was even disbanded about the same time Artoo came into my life." Luke smiled. "Changing it forever."

[Force things!] Artoo complained. He'd had a few shrill beeps in Luke's words though.

Anakin was used to being 'sir'-ed, but it sounded strange coming from this stranger. He listened anyway, though, and had to nod, a couple of times, at the quick analysis that did, sort of at least, add up. 

But then he said 'the Republic was overthrown' and for several long moments, Anakin couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and all he could feel was panic. No, _no_. 

**No**. 

The Republic could not fall. It couldn't -- because for it to happen, everyone he cared about would have to be dead. Obi-Wan. _Snips_. The Chancellor. Rex. Master Plo, Master Fisto. Aayla. Bly. Kix. Fives-and-Echo. _Padmé._

He missed everything after except a soft affectionate amusement that totally failed to matter against his panic. 

Luke shifted to face the other man fully, reaching a hand out, letting it hover just near that shoulder in offer of support. "I'm sorry. That… you… you were part of the Republic. I should not have said it that way."

Relief and confusion alike poured through his veins though. If Vader spoke true (and Luke knew he did just as much as he wanted it to be a lie), this man served the Empire fully. How, how in all that was holy anywhere in the galaxy had this man, so torn by the news, turn into the remorseless killing machine that served the Emperor so completely?

Anakin wasn't really hearing yet, the litany (Litany?) of names of people who would have to be dead for the Republic to be overthrown still running in his head... but he could hear the tone of his voice, the -- the concern, and regret? 

He forced the slow cadence of names down under his ability to think, making himself think past it and the panic, make himself gather up what passed for his control and breathe, drag himself back under control. He took several slow breaths made himself sit up straight, look at Luke, and shake his head slightly. "It -- I'm sorry. I didn't... actually hear anything after -- after the Republic being ov-overthrown somehow. Could you..." 

"Let's get out of the sun," Luke suggested. "I have water inside." He guided his guests in, looking immediately to his Artoo, plugged in, and Threepio who was powered down to preserve his own sanity. 

He then immediately went to get the water, as Anakin looked around the sparse living area. There wasn't much left; Ben hadn't kept much in here, it seemed, and Luke had had to find the cunning hiding places to get at the journals and half-made notes on Jedi techniques.

He brought a cup of water back for Anakin, handing it over carefully. He then moved back to where he was contemplating the new lightsaber, settling behind it but where he could watch Anakin.

This was his father. This was the legendary pilot he'd heard about. This was the _Jedi_ his father had been. It was so shocking, when the man was so young, despite the scar marking him, despite those legends in his ears --

\-- and it struck him how young _Vader_ had to have been. Unless… unless it had been more than just his life span and a year or so. After all, Ben had been so _old_.

Stepping inside this place had wrapped Anakin in a presence he would never have expected -- the tiny little hut felt like... like Obi-Wan, almost, but also with a grief so all-encompassing that Anakin almost couldn't breathe again. What had happened to his mentor, his brother (the man that continually undercut him), his Master, that his presence... faded, but still here, seeped into the walls and the floor, could -- 

He jumped as Luke was suddenly in his space, hand dropping for his lightsaber before he realized what he was doing, what was being held out to him, and took it as carefully as it was being held out. That pulled him back out of his head, and he looked around, finding... 

"Threepio?" he asked, though where Artoo was, of course Threepio would be. "Oh, he has to hate being back here..." 

Luke glanced that way and nodded. "He certainly didn't enjoy his first time here, when I acquired them."

Artoo, the younger one, beeped indignantly. [I met him here!]

Anakin's teeth bared for a moment, that phrasing making his eyes narrow even as he put his fingers over on Artoo's dome. "Of course you did, Artoo," he soothed, as he glared at Luke. "Threepio _isn't property_. Not anybody's, not since my Mother was -- since she died." 

"I didn't mean as property. They're my friends. Artoo has saved my life so many times." How was this man going to become Vader if he saw droids as free beings? "They had been on Leia's ship. Artoo had a mission to find Ben here."

Anakin relaxed at that, at hearing and feeling the blatant affection in this man's voice and presence about his friends, and nodded. "Okay. 

"Good, then. And of course Artoo's saved you; that's what he does. Isn't it, buddy?" he glanced down and petted Artoo for moment, letting the familiar gesture calm him down some more. "...'Ben'? Obi-Wan? He's using the Duchess' name for him?" 

Why would Obi-Wan do that to himself? 

"I only knew him as a crazy old hermit named Ben Kenobi," Luke said. "Until Artoo showed up."

Anakin blinked a few times, startled, and stared at Luke in bafflement. "...crazy old -- what? I don't understand." 

"It's kind of tied up in the fact the Republic fell?" Luke said gently. "He was one of the last two Jedi alive. And he got the job of keeping me safe, apparently."

"Last.. two," Anakin murmured, beyond shocked, beyond horrified. "That -- that can't -- there are still a couple thousand Jedi, not to mention the younglings and Padawans..."

How could they possibly all die? If they all -- "Who was the other?!" 

Luke hesitated, caught by that, hearing a part of the tragedy he'd never considered. That there might have been _young_ Jedi just… made him feel even emptier inside about Darth Vader. And yet here he was, twenty plus years younger, abhorred by all of it.

"Master Yoda… who was quick to point out that his own ways had failed the Order," Luke said, feeling compelled to tell that part of his training with the ancient Jedi.

"No," Anakin whispered, panic and terror slamming through him as he threw every bit of strength he could muster against the headache into a reach down his bond to his padawan. He had no idea where she might be, but he _refused_ to accept the possibility of her death. //Snips?!?!!

//Snips, _damn it!!!!_ Come ON!// 

Far, far away on a planet that was mostly avoided, the Dark Side could not keep such a call from reaching its prisoner, trapped by lack of a ship and shifting times. The touch of darkness, the anchor of the Son, broke the shielding around her, locking her into place.

//Anakin?//

The voice was mature, strong, and very disbelieving… with a powerful side of hope in it.

// _Snips_! Thank kriff, you're alive, you're _alive_ , you're okay... You -- you sound so much older, kiddo. Maybe this kid _is_ telling the truth...// He still wasn't sure about that, though seeing the recharging Artoo, and Threepio's golden plating, had done more to convince him than anything else. //You're alive...// 

//Skyguy?// And now the hope was giving way to actual relief, though the rest of his words were so confusing. //I'm … Anakin, I just faced you! Or… did coming back to _you_ mean losing all of Vader's memories?// She added strength to the connection, wrapping around him with… a potent grasp of the Force that was mostly Light, with some shading.

//Who's Vader?// Anakin asked back, baffled, starting to sweat from holding the connection, and not about to let go. His padawan was alive, even if she wasn't making much sense, and for a few moments there he'd thought he'd lost her too. //For me, we were just on the _Resolute_ , in the Aparo Sector, when we saw some kind of Force anomaly and I went out to get a closer look. I woke up halfway to landing on kriffing _Tatooine_ again!// 

//I'd say stay there… no, stay there. I will GET a ship.// Ahsoka's determination was palpable. //I will come to you.// She pushed a reassurance at him, while anchoring her bond with him higher up.

//Okay, Snips. Okay.... we'll see you then, then. You -- he said the last two Jedi were Obi-Wan and Yoda and I just -- I _had_ to know you were okay...// Snips was okay. 

Snips was safe, Snips was okay... he hadn't lost her. 

A burst of irritation with Yoda shaded the absolute shock at Obi-Wan still being alive before she slipped to a background pulse in his mind… and set about _summoning_ the nearest ships in her sector to come to the planet. Being in the midst of a Dark Side temple, she had found things she would now use to barter for passage. The luring was vaguely shadowed in its use of the Force, but she would make good with whomever responded.

Force keep Asajj Ventress and the tricks she had taught Ahsoka.

Anakin clung on for a few more moments, but he could tell she was concentrating on something else... and holding the connection was getting more exhausting by the second. He let it slip to a similar low level, leaned against it, and opened his eyes again. "Looks like Yoda didn't tell you everything -- though, wait, you said he admitted he was _wrong_ about something?" 

"You… was that the Force you were moving so strongly? I'm not used to seeing it like that, except when Yoda picked my X-Wing up out of the swamp," Luke said, before he got himself under control. "Umm, sorry. Still very new to how this all works.

"And yes? He wanted me to understand he was trying to adapt to this age's needs, because traditional training had been part of the downfall of the Order. He'd lost two of his own line, and almost a third, because of rigidity."

There were at least five completely confusing things in those seven sentences, and Anakin decided that he was going to ignore four of them, at least for the moment. Whatever _had_ happened, it wasn't kriffing going to, and he was always best at practical applications and not theory. "Yes, that was the Force. 

"And tapping our bond with it told me that my Padawan is alive, somewhere. ...somewhere very, very far galactic North." He wasn't sure exactly where, but it had taken so much of his strength to reach her that all he really wanted to do was pitch backward onto something vaguely flat. 

Yoda, trying to adapt. _Yoda_? He was as unchanging as the stones of the Temple, and as impossible to affect! 

And how could someone that had to be a little older than he was be new to the Force?! No, blast it, he wasn't thinking about that, he wasn't. 

"Do you need to sleep? The cot is clean and free of sand vermin," Luke offered him in a quiet voice. "I really need to get this put together, somehow, so I'm closer to the timetable for rescuing my friend, and you look pale."

"What's giving you trouble?" Anakin asked, taking a few steps towards the workbench and the half-assembled lightsaber. "I used to wind up making a new 'saber about every other year, I'm pretty sure I know it backwards and forwards." 

The last thing he wanted was to go to sleep on Tatooine. 

"I've never made one," Luke said softly. "I used…" and his eyes dropped toward Anakin's waist, "my father's, until I lost it and my hand recently. And I can't go back to Yoda, not until my friends are safely headed back to the Alliance, so … I've read Ben's journal and meditated on it. I made the crystal, but something isn't quite right, or I feel it isn't."

Anakin'd used Obi-Wan's lightsaber a hundred times, been thrown a spare in the battle on Geonosis, had to borrow Snips' once or twice... he knew perfectly well it was entirely possible. That glance at his 'saber, the 'my father's', and Luke's last name suddenly made a baffling kind of sense -- and he shoved it aside to focus on the problem at hand. 

Luke was far too old to be only building his first, but he'd said somehow he was new to this... "Synthetic crystal, then... well, you're here, it would have to be. 

"Lost your hand along with it?" he looked at the two hands he could plainly see, neither of them gloved and both apparently flesh with a confused glance back up. "Not by lightsaber, then?" 

"Yes it was." Luke saw the glance and reached down to open the access panel on his prosthetic. "Pretty good work, and I haven't been itching to redo any of the servos at least?" He let Anakin look at it. "And yeah, synthetic. I'm not sure I even have heard of one of the planets his journal mentions, and Dantooine still has an Imperial outpost despite the Rebellion having abandoned it long before I joined up."

"...wow," Anakin replied as he moved over to look at it, to study the microcircuitry and relays and the so-real skin, "that's... some serious improvement. The surgeons all told me I'd lose more use than I'd gain in sensation if I tried adding synthskin. Besides, if I did that, I couldn't rework the circuits when I want to." 

He reached and tugged off his right glove, tucking the black leather into his sash as he flexed the fingers almost absently, switching from looking at the prosthetic to looking at the mostly-constructed lightsaber, trying to find the flaw Luke -- his son? Almost had to be, with what he'd said, his age, and being here -- said he could feel. 

Luke was fascinated by his father's prosthetic, but he shook it off after a moment. "I'd always be tinkering with it if I wasn't busy," he admitted sheepishly. "Luckily, I stay busy. They gave me Rogue Squadron and I'm their only Jedi?"

"As to the lightsaber -- " Luke turned the journal around, showing the rough schematic he was working from and explaining how he could feel the crystal and focusing gem just weren't quite resonant enough for the circuit as designed, but he couldn't figure it out. He was more than willing to get lost in the tinkering with Anakin; it was less shocking than history lessons.

+++ 

Figuring out the problem with Luke's lightsaber hadn't -- unfortunately -- taken nearly as long as Anakin would have liked, and now he was stuck attempting to figure out what in the many names of the suns was going on. What had happened that anything of this -- this hell of a future, somehow almost familiar -- had ever come to be? Not that he really wanted to know, but... he had to. 

If he was going to stop it, he had to know what _to_ stop. Once Luke wasn't actively engaged with the lightsaber, he gave the young man across from him a long look. "Okay... think you could try explaining again? If I'm going to fix this, I've got to know a little more than I've pieced together right now." 

Luke settled in a cross-legged position, and then closed his eyes. "I don't know the history. Leia hasn't had much time to remedy my education… not that she knows a lot. The histories, she said, have been tampered with.

"But what I do know, from what she has told me, and general knowledge, is that near the time I was born, the Emperor took power and dissolved the Republic. He did so by eliminating the Jedi Order, and employing a man called Darth Vader as his enforcer of terror."

"Yeah... accurate news has always been a little hard to come by out here," Anakin had to admit, before he shook his head, raking his fingers through his hair. That last name, that 'Darth Vader'... and what Snips had said, her baffled, hoping 'did coming back to _you_ mean losing all of Vader's memories?' slid nausea across his soul. 

He -- **no**. Ne couldn't, he _wouldn't_ , betray Padmé like that, betray his men, his Master, his -- 

He _could not_. He would never bend to Dooku or any other Sith. But Ahsoka wouldn't lie to him. She'd sounded too relieved, too overjoyed, even as she'd snarled, 'I just faced you!' into his mind. "So... you're not actually the right person to fill me in. Good thing you've got Artoo with you, then. He can." 

And Artoo was even less capable of lying to him than Snips was. 

Luke turned and faced Artoo, his Artoo, at the recharge station, frowning slightly. "If he knows anything? Then again, he was on Leia's ship, even if not attached to her directly." He raised his voice. "Artoo! I need you to wake up, buddy."

The astromech rebooted swiftly out of his low-power mode, all sensors powering up with the lights coming alive, his dome swiveling -- 

\-- and he jerked free of the recharge station, his electro-prod and his circular saw coming out of their compartments , so he could charge at the danger to his pilot, warbling desperately for Luke to move away.

Anakin stood frozen at the impossible sight of _Artoo_ moving to attack him and shrieking for Luke to run -- almost long enough that the saw was in range -- before he leapt back and up onto one of the shelves, out of Artoo's range (now there was a thought he'd never expected to have) and perched there. "Artoo, Artoo _stop_ , buddy, it's _me_. 

"It's Anakin, Artooey, stop, come on.. and you, Artoo, _no!_." 

It was all true. It was _all_ true. Somehow, he'd -- he'd Fallen. Taking a breath, he unhooked his lightsaber and tossed it down to Luke. "See, Artoo? I'm not gonna hurt him..." 

Luke caught it, just holding it for the moment, easy and practiced, since it was the one he'd first used. "Artoo! Stop! He's not Vader!" Luke demanded. "He's Anakin, the real Anakin, from before -- before everything that made Vader, I guess!"

Artoo warbled uncertainly, but the saw stopped moving, the electro-prod looked less menacing, and the 'eye' lens swiveled as much as it could to watch Anakin. [My Anakin?]

The other Artoo, the one fresh from the war, had watched, not interfering, because his pilot could easily handle this. Now, though, he warbled back. [Yes. We crashed, but shouldn't be here! Force things!] he added with disgust.

"Yes, Artoo," Anakin agreed from his perch on the shelf, not moving, that warily uncertain warble sinking a vibroknife into his chest. "It's me. It's really me. Kriff, if you don't want to listen to me, will you listen to yourself? This isn't the most comfortable spot to perch, you know." 

[Better than a falling landing platform,] the more experienced version of the droid said with a laugh in the binary. 

[Or balanced on a B2,] the younger version added.

Luke could not help but laugh, even as his own Artoo moved away and came to his side, implements of destruction folding away. Luke placed his hand on the dome, touched, despite himself, for that brazen, emphatic wish to defend him. "I think it's safe."

Anakin laughed at them both, his mouth quirking. "I didn't say it was the least comfortable perch I'd had, now did I, you two? Just that it wasn't comfortable. 

"Okay, coming down now, Artoo. I -- I need you to tell me what happened, after... for me it's," and he gave the Republic date and the Huttese alike, even as he dropped easily to the floor again, "we were on a down-cycle in the Aparo Sector on the _Resolute_ when the Force started misbehaving in space and you and I went out to see what was happening... Do you remember that?" 

The younger Artoo tucked himself against his Anakin's knee, flickering warnings in his lights at the other, older 'him'. 

The elder one made a quick acknowledgement, then whistled back. [I do not. And I can't say without you unlocking the protocols; a Jedi and a Senator locked things down.]

Luke settled back to a waiting, easier stance, watching his astromech and his father with that version of the same astromech.

"A Jedi and a Senator? Okay, no problem," Anakin blinked, startled and confused, but he dropped down to a careful optic-lens-level crouch to give the long sequence of multiple-language syllables that were the decrypting and access protocols for Artoo's prodigious memory. He reached back and laid a hand on the Artoo that had been with him when he hit the planet, not sure which one of them he was reassuring more. 

"This's why I knew Artoo would know, Luke. After the first time he got kidnapped away from me, we did some -- well, they're probably illegal, but so what? -- unique things to make sure nobody could access or alter his memories. 

"Didn't we, buddy?" 

Both astromechs whistled affirmatively, before the elder Artoo whirled his head to look directly at Luke. 

[Twin. Sister. Princess!]

"What?!" Luke demanded, as if he had been scalded on the spot. "Leia is my sister?!"

[Yes.] He'd needed to say that for some time, back deep inside the part of his processor he couldn't actively act on.

"What?!" Anakin had demanded at almost exactly the same time as Luke's first words, as he stared at the back of Artoo's dome in utter confusion. At least he wasn't the only one, from the sound of Luke's voice, but... twins? 

Twins that didn't know each other _for_ twins, even with the Force? 

The younger Artoo was equally confused as the two humans, which was something that didn't entirely suit him, but... this one had seen many things he had not yet. 

Luke forced himself to calm, then nodded slowly. "I can't ever tell her about Vader," Luke said softly. "That means not telling her… no, I can't do that. She needs to know." Their feelings were so tangled up in one another, in Han, but if he didn't back off and give her an explanation, then he'd lose her friendship even.

The more experienced Artoo nudged Luke gently, settling at his side, but watching Anakin. [Mustafar. Last time I saw you, was Mustafar. You… hurt my Senator.] Artoo waited, knowing that his former pilot would melt down over that. His own younger self shrieked in protest at it.

Artoo had to be wrong. Anakin shook his head hard, the condemning binary echoing over and over again in his mind, his Artoo's protesting shriek only barely comforting. The planet didn't matter, Artoo not having seen him in years didn't matter. Nothing but those impossible, damning words mattered. 

"I _what_? I -- I could **never** hurt Padmé, Artoo, she's -- she's everything to me, you _know_ that... You better than _anyone_ know that!" 

He would rather be dead a thousand times over than ever lift even a finger to his wife, his angel! 

The older droid gave a long, mournful cry. [Saw it! Accused her of betraying you, because Kenobi was on her ship! Threepio said he hadn't even known Kenobi was there, but you hurt my Senator!] His beeps were hard-edged, but under it, even Luke could feel the confusion at such a basic reality of his world having been abridged. [You fought him then, and the battle went far from me. Only he came back, to save my Senator.]

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin stared at his agonized, furious old friend in complete and utter confusion, none of Artoo's words making any sense. His own Artoo was making sharply angry rebuttals, and he reached back, "Shhh -- shh, old friend. You wouldn't lie to me, any _you_ wouldn't." 

[You would never!] the younger Artoo replied, flashing angry red past his pilot at... himself... as he pushed under that reaching hand. [Is our Senator!] 

"I know -- shh, shh. But if -- if you say I did ... will... could, _whatever_ , kriff I'm a pilot not a linguist, I have to figure out how, so I can **stop it**. So shh, please? You two screeching at each other isn't helping me, okay?" 

The elder Artoo calmed himself down slowly, and then beeped out the root cause. [You were with the Chancellor, before. Before Mustafar. When the Temple burned.]

Luke was trying to listen, to learn what Artoo could teach, but he was tamping down all of his own horror at that wave of revulsion and everything else so negative from Anakin… from his father, who didn't seem capable of being the deadly, terrifying Vader at all.

"Oh come _on_ , Artoo, not you _too_!" Anakin exclaimed almost as the 'with the Chancellor' came out, raking his flesh fingers through his hair as he shook his head, glaring at this older version of his friend, "Don't tell me Obi-Wan's convinced _you_ , too -- the Chancellor is my _friend_! Probably the best one I had until I got you back!" 

The more experienced droid shot across the floor, right into Anakin's space, unafraid as ever. [The Chancellor is the Emperor!] And with that, he broadcast the image of Darth Sidious side by side with the most recent appearance by the Emperor from the Imperial Holo Net. [He made this future!]

Artoo came close, close enough to touch, and Anakin couldn't make himself lift a hand enough to do it, couldn't make his lungs work enough to breathe, couldn't hold the crouch and landed hard on his ass as those five binary whistle-beeps shoved a lightsaber into his chest and neatly carved out his heart. He stared at the two images, one captured by Republic surveillance and the other stamped with what Luke told him was the date, horror clutching a fist as tight around his throat as the Force ever could, a quiet whimper in his throat. 

It couldn't be. 

Artoo would never lie to him. 

It _could not_ be true. His friend wasn't -- he would sense -- 

Artoo would never lie to him. 

"No... Artoo... no...?" Kriff, he sounded like a youngling. 

Artoo tipped his body in the saddest pose he could. [He is. And he will make you into the monster that hurt my pilot!] He could not let up, had to make Anakin see truth, because if the Force had dragged the man to this time, Artoo was dead-set on saving his past, no matter what it changed, as long as the GAR and Anakin and Padmé and Ahsoka had a better chance at surviving as the people he loved!

Luke ached for the way Anakin looked so lost, even as he felt the tingling awareness of just how similar their emotions about their loved ones ran. He wanted to offer comfort, but what was there to give, when the galaxy was a cesspool under the control of a madman and his rabid dog?

"No," Anakin said -- whispered, more because he couldn't get air into his lungs than because he wanted to -- as his hand fisted into his hair, trying to use a single point of pain to make himself focus, as his world spun, twisted, bucked and upended itself. He... he couldn't not believe Artoo. 

But believing Artoo meant -- 

Meant -- 

For the first time in his (not deathly ill) life, he felt his stomach heave, churn, rebel -- and he barely managed to dodge his Artoo, stumble to the tiny 'fresher, and get his head over the reclaimer to be violently sick. 

It felt like he was there forever, and by the time it stopped all he had the strength for was to drop backwards onto the floor and stare at the ceiling, trying to breathe. 

Artoo, the elder one, looked at Luke after a long moment, and the man rose to go to his guest -- his father. He dropped down on the floor outside the 'fresher, projecting that he was right there.

"I'm sorry. I do … sort of … understand. I've spent the last year trying to come to terms with who my father is."

"No," Anakin murmured, dragging himself backwards enough to be able to turn his head and look at his -- yeah, his son, he could more than feel that in the Force -- "I don't think you do. I don't think you _can_. 

"Between you and Artoo, I just... found out that I become _worse_ than every fear the Council ever had of me, and it's... It's because of the man I've counted as a mentor and friend, confidante and adviser, that was there for me when no-one else even really wanted me _around_." 

Luke paused. A large part of him wanted to counter with having to face the fact he was the son of the man that had slaughtered millions, either personally or by command. He wanted to say that the man he was son of had killed his best friend. He wanted to say that his father had stood by and let a defenseless planet be destroyed.

He didn't.

"What better way to control the person most likely to be stronger than you, someday, than to put the leash of friendship to their collar?" he asked instead, quietly, not understanding what a firebomb he could possibly set off with those words. "I'd do anything for my friends, willfully, and that had to have come from somewhere."

Anakin listened to those first few words, the 'stronger than you someday' with a slow nod -- he was the most powerful Jedi in several human generations, he would be stronger than any Sith -- but then there was that last phrase and his lips skinned back from his teeth as an incandescent fury poured through him. 

He was no-one's slave, no-one's property, never, _ever_ again was he going to be _leashed_ \-- 

\-- there were other words, and he knew he should probably be listening to them, but he was seeing pure, furious red... at least half because he knew Luke was right. 

Luke tapered off, and then just went silent, trying to ride out that fury… and he couldn't. He had been subjected to it before, and now he felt ill, and had to get up, go outside the hut for air. 

Any doubts he'd had were gone. Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader, and no matter what the Force thought it was doing, Luke wasn't sure that man in the hut could walk away from the path he'd evidently been on.

Not with that much anger flowing so freely in him, tempting him toward the Dark Side.

The younger droid rolled across the floor slowly and noisily, bumping up against his pilot's hand and then an arm, making quietly worried noises. Not words, just... trying to reach his pilot, because he was never still like this. 

The noises had warned him, and Anakin picked himself up enough to wrap his arms hard around his Artoo, breathing shakily, trying to calm himself, trying to break the grip his rage had on him. 

"Artoo," he murmured, low, shaky, and eventually. "Artoo... you can't let me do that, okay? Any of it. You have to keep me from it, you hear me?" 

[I hear. Won't forget. Won't fail. ...boy is scared.] 

Anakin shuddered, clinging a little tighter, before he started -- again -- to try to center himself, find his calm instead of the rage. It took a while longer, but he finally managed to find enough of it to get to his feet, to find water to wash out his mouth with, and then to go outside in search of his son. 

"I'm sorry, Luke," he said, soft, from a meter or so away. "I -- don't normally lose my temper that... spectacularly. Or when there's anyone else that can sense the Force around. Are you all right?" 

Luke looked up, eyes wet despite himself. "No, no I'm not." He had dropped down outside the dwelling, his knees up, forearms on them. "You're -- " He couldn't make himself say anything else; he had to stay alive, had to save Han, had to get back to Yoda. Everything he said to this man left scars on his own psyche, reminding him that he was the child of a monster.

Maybe, when he'd first looked at the fight in Cloud City, he'd let himself think there was something good in Vader, something to reach. Seeing Anakin, listening to him, kept fanning that hope, only to have that overpowering rage quench it so fully.

"What is it?" Anakin murmured, dropping down beside him, looking worriedly at his weeping son, carefully reaching out to lay a hand on a knee. "I -- I _am_ sorry. 

"I didn't realize I remembered the feel of a leash so strongly. I was only three when Gardulla lost us to Watto, and he never bothered with a collar." 

Luke wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand… forgetting and using the prosthetic, even though synth-flesh didn't react to water quite right. "You were a slave?" That only made it worse. How could anyone who had been on the bottom as a slave take whole planets into that evil? "That makes him make even less sense!"

Anakin nodded, squeezing the knee he had his hand on gently, trying to reassure his frightened, wounded son. "I was -- children follow the mother, after all, especially when there seems to be no father to make a claim. 

"We didn't have it... as badly as some others. Gardulla wasn't cruel to Mom, and after Watto bought us for the money I could make him fixing things, we were... pretty safe. If it wasn't for Master Jinn, I probably still would be -- I can't...

"I can't _possibly_ imagine what would make me betray him by turning into one of the things that killed him. Even if -- even _though_ the Chancellor is Sidious, why in the names of the _suns_ wouldn't I just take his head off his shoulders?"

"Leverage elsewhere?" Luke asked softly. He wanted to believe there was a way to head it off. He was usually great at being the optimist of the group. This… this was too close to home. "Or maybe he just used all those years to lay the basis for a really powerful Mind Trick you couldn't ignore," he added. "Or both. Artoo can only tell you what he saw and understood. How much did he miss?"

"...probably a lot. I didn't normally take him with me to the Chancellor's offices, or up to deal with the Council, either." Anakin shook his head, raking his fingers through his hair again, leaning back against the wall of the hut and sighing. 

"Sith do have some powerful Mind Tricks," he admitted softly, "and as often as I've run to the Chancellor with my troubles... he's had plenty of chances to try to lay them. 

"Which honestly makes more sense than the idea that I could ever, for anything or any other leverage, raise so much as a _finger_ to your mother, let alone hurt her badly enough for Artoo to say she'd needed to be saved...." 

Luke's full attention came to rest on Anakin's face. "My mother? Our mother, I guess, considering Leia. I mean, she had the Organas as parents, but there was always a remove between me and Uncle Owen. Aunt Beru was closer, but she wasn't my mom."

"...Owen and Beru raised you?" Anakin asked, more shocked by that than the mention of one of Padmé's friends. "That's -- I wouldn't have expected that. It was good of him, though, to take you in. The Organas... Bail and Breha? I haven't spent much time with them, Obi-Wan knows Bail better, but... they seem to be good people. 

"And yes, your mother. My wife, my angel, and the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me... Padmé Amidala Naberrie-Skywalker." 

Luke shook his head. "I've never heard of her. Leia might have; she's been raised in the Rebellion, and I just got recruited when we took on the Death Star. Garven Dreis had been hesitant to take me in, but between my best friend and my last name, he accepted me to fill his last ship," he said.

"Garven Dreis..." Anakin frowned slightly, thinking, "oh. Virujansi. The boy in the Rarefied Air Corps, thankfully _not_ the one that stuck me with that kriffing title the press all leapt on. Good kid, hell of a pilot for somebody that can't use the Force."

The idea that he didn't know Padmé's _name_ , with everything she'd done... that was something for him to discuss later. 

Luke took a deep breath. "He died. We didn't exactly make it back from the Death Star with many pilots at all. Vader… was too strong."

Anakin could feel that grief, the quiet sorrow and loss, and he shook his head a little. "I -- I'm sorry, Luke. I know, that... can't help much, but... I am. I've lost so many of my men, so many of the _Vod'e_ , and it. It never gets any easier. Or stops hurting. 

"I'm sorry you ever had to learn that. You shouldn't have." 

Luke shook his head. "I don't like it. I fly and hope I bring home all of my squadron. I take more chances so they don't have to. But I know they feel the same thing I do.

"We want to end the Empire, the chokehold, the slaving, the terror… and nothing will stand in our way short of dying."

Anakin nodded slowly, taking a deep, slow breath. "That -- that sounds a lot like how we feel about keeping the Republic safe. With the kinds of things I've seen Separatist armies do to planets and inhabited moons, the bioweapons and the just plain destruction... they can't win. 

"Except... it's all just a shell game. It's just -- all of my boys are dying for _nothing_ but a kriffing Sith's craving for power!" He forced himself to choke down his rage, to shove it off into the Force, to keep himself calm. 

Luke reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe. Or maybe the situation was there, waiting to erupt, and he just took advantage of it. Either way, you know. And maybe… Maybe you can change it."

"No 'maybe' about it," Anakin told him, leaning against that hand on his shoulder, "at least if I can figure out how to get back home. I'm _not_ losing more of my boys to a game with one Sith on either side of the kriffing board. _Not happening._

"I owe them better than that. A _lot_ better than that." 

Luke looked at him, and allowed himself to hope, even as that anger lingered on the back of his mind, reminding him of the battle at Cloud City far too clearly.

"I should get the droids moving for the next part of the plan, to get my friend back," Luke said, pushing himself to shake off the doubts.

Anakin cocked his head. "You mentioned that before. What's going on with your friend? I'm stuck in this kriffing sand pit at least 'til Snips gets here, and I need something to _do_ , so I might as well help." 

Luke snorted. "We lost him to the bounty hunter Fett, at Cloud City, and he was delivered to Jabba. Han had been trying to get back here, pay off his debt, but things kept happening, keeping him with us," Luke told his father. "Lando got in to the palace, scoped it out. I'm sending Artoo, and Threepio to talk for him, to have them in place to back Leia and Chewie up when they go.

"If all that fails to get Han out, I'll have no choice but to go. We've been trying to keep my Force use as limited as possible, so I hope Leia is able to finish this."

"Fett?" Anakin asked, startled, as soon as Luke stopped talking, He knew he'd made a low, unhappy noise at the mention of Jabba, his artificial hand flexing slightly, but other than that he'd managed to stay quiet. "Unless you've got the solid credits to pay his debt and then some, you're going to have a fight to get your 'Han' back. Jabba doesn't let go of anything -- though he tends to go straight for 'kill them all'. 

"What makes you think your friend's still alive at all?" 

"Lando got word out to me. Han's hanging on the wall… oh, he's in carbonite. And we have pulled the credits and then some together. Artoo will offer it," Luke told him. "I just… don't expect him to be reasonable."

"It's Jabba," Anakin said darkly, "he doesn't know the meaning of 'reasonable'. Kriff, not even bringing the Huttlet back safe and sound would have saved me and Snips if it wasn't for Padmé exposing his uncle as part of the kidnapping. 

"...wait. You're _not_ seriously thinking you can Influence a Hutt, are you?" 

"Why not?" Luke asked, brows beetling in surprise. "I don't like that ability, and try to only use it when I have to, preferably on those that do harm to others."

"That's a good way to look at it," Anakin agreed, "but you _can't_ Mind Trick a Hutt. They're immune." 

Luke stared, and then looked at the door of the hut. "Kriff," he said quietly, with the tone of voice of a man who didn't use profanity very often at all. "Then I need a new plan, because I'm not risking Leia and Chewie and the droids!"

Anakin shrugged one shoulder slightly, his mouth quirking, "So you and I take the credits and go knock on the front door. I can handle levitating a single carbonite block and a running fight, but I don't think Jabba will want to lose that much. He's a piece of work, but he's a businessman." 

"Huh." It meant no risk to his friends. Lando could extricate himself. And… it would give Anakin something legitimate to do and unleash his aggressions. "Alright, let's do it."

Anakin nodded his agreement and got to his feet, putting his flesh hand down to pull his son up to his feet. "...you got your mother's height, I guess," he said, now that he was standing so close to him. "For once, Obi-Wan had someone around that wasn't Yoda and didn't tower over him... he has to have enjoyed that." 

Luke grinned shyly. "At least I'm taller than Leia," he said before going inside to get ready for the trek to Jabba's palace.

+++

Luke carefully set the speeder down with its cargo lashed on the back, and looked at the Falcon, then his X-Wing, longingly. However, because of Anakin, they could not just leave yet. He would deliver Han to … his sister, and oh that got so complicated so fast in his head … and then they'd go back to Ben's to wait.

"You mind staying with the speeder?" he asked Anakin, nervous even as he saw the Falcon's ramp drop.

"No," Anakin answered, "I don't think it would do any good for me to -- " He stopped being able to talk as a small young woman rushed down off that ancient bucket of bolts, and just motioned to Luke to go on. 

She looked so much like Padmé. So _incredibly_ much, and her presence in the Force was... more muted, but every bit as determined, as his wife's. 

Luke jumped down and ran over to Leia, grabbing her into his arms fiercely. "I got him back, Leia; he's safe now." Luke swallowed hard. "Lando should be showing up anytime now; he should have gotten out in the confusion, and yes, I went off plan, but I had help." He stepped back, to see her face, expecting her to be scrutinizing the man with him.

She was, though she had kissed his cheek during the hug. "You took a huge risk, and who is he?"

"Someone from my past," Luke said. "The hover controls for the carbonite still work, or you can get Chewie? I can't leave Tatooine just yet; he's waiting on someone and I should meet them."

Leia held on to him, trying to tug him into another embrace, looking over his shoulder at the man in the heavy cloak narrowly, not liking this in the slightest. If Luke had had an ally capable of helping him get Han out, he would have mentioned him, and now he was going to _stay_ here? "Luke, are you... going to be long, then? And if the controls work, I can handle it." 

Luke moved into her hold willingly, closing his eyes as he cemented her signature presence in his senses. "I don't think so? I need to go back to Dagobah, but then I'll rejoin you at the fleet, I promise." She was his sister, and that moved so many things around in his head about how they would go forward, but… holding her had his calm refreshing itself. He needed this, her anchoring presence soothed most of the jagged edges of dealing with Anakin and unpleasant truths.

She nodded, frowning slightly at his hair as he leaned against her. He was... different, and... doing something, she thought. What that might be, she didn't know, but she held him close. "Okay. Okay, then." 

She was only willing to let go once he had opened his eyes again, and when she did, she moved towards the speeder to get Han, to finally have him _back_. "Luke, why is he still -- in that, not...?" 

"My friend said that carbonite, after so long in it, has complications," Luke told her. "Wait until you have him in a medical bay, or sedate him as soon as you can get to skin, if you thaw him first, to give his body time to recover. Blindness, chills, muscle tremors… but they _should_ pass," he explained. He walked at her side, eyes flicking to their father, to check on him by sight as well as Force.

Leia hissed at the thought, not willing to leave him in that stuff a minute longer than he absolutely had to be... but Han would be so frightened -- and try so hard to hide it -- if his body refused to answer him, if he couldn't see... "I'll see what we've got aboard, then. If there's enough of something safe for him, I'll do that, but if not... I guess he'll be safe in there..." 

Anakin could see differences, now, hear them in her voice, but the fire in her dark eyes, the sharply determined stride and the white she was wrapped in... she was every _inch_ Padmé's daughter. 

"Okay, Leia," Luke told her, as he started unstrapping the slab and readying it for her to move. He did not try to introduce the two of them; it just didn't seem worth it to bog Leia down with his own mysteries. "Give Lando at least a day to get here? We left things a pretty bad mess, but he's pretty resourceful."

"We won't leave without him, Luke," Leia promised, her hand settling onto the hover controls. She was going to ask Lando what in the names of the saints had happened, had suddenly pushed Luke to abandon weeks of careful planning and just storm into Jabba's palace -- she just hoped he had some idea of the answer. 

"Leia, may the Force be with you all. Try not to start the next push until I'm back?" Luke asked, even as he prayed there was never a need to push, that he'd only see her again as his twin that he'd grown up with.

"I'll try and keep everyone from jumping too soon," Leia agreed, leaned to kiss his cheek, and added a soft, "Force be with you, Luke," before she headed back towards the _Falcon_. 

Luke looked at his father once Leia was mostly out of earshot. "I'd kind of like to get my X-Wing back; I think I can set her down near enough to an overhang to disguise her shape. Problem is, I want to give back the speeder to Biggs' mother. You think you can stand to be uncomfortable for the hop in my fighter? Pretty sure we can get you space if I just stash my seat in Artoo's cupola."

"You're not going to go orbital, right? I'll just take Artoo's spot. Though I _really_ want to get my hands on that ship -- there's a hyperdrive built into her unless I've completely lost my mind, and I'm fascinated. The difference that'd make if we didn't have to dock with jump rings every time, or worse, wait for new ones..." 

Luke laughed. "Okay, and no, not going orbital. As to trying her out… not here. Too many chances of Imperial notice. And they do NOT have those. The whole design team defected to the Alliance with the plans.

"Let me run the speeder over, you go check her over, and I'll run back as soon as I get the speeder in its shed."

Anakin rolled his eyes at his son, darkly amused, "I did pick up on that this isn't exactly the place to joyride. ...they did, huh? Good for them. See you when you get back, then." He dropped out of the speeder, trotted across the little distance between the speeder and the X-Wing, and dove into investigating a completely new class of ship. Much as he could without being able to tear her down and put her back together, anyway. 

It didn't take Luke all that long… but Anakin had gone over the ship pretty thoroughly, seeing all the innovations this ship represented. When Luke jogged up, he paused, just watching his father muttering to himself about wanting to actually _see_ how those power couplings worked. He waited until Anakin wouldn't bang his head on anything to clear his throat.

"I'm back."

"I know," Anakin agreed, having felt the unshielded Force-presence of his son half a klick out, "but you weren't saying anything, so I kept investigating. This ship is a _marvel_ \-- I have _no idea_ how they compressed a three-man ARC-170 to a single-person fighter, which is annoying the _poodoo_ out of me and I'm going to be trying to figure it out for weeks -- and I can tell she's been through the fires with you. She's got your signature all through her." 

Luke rested a hand on his ship for a long moment. "Yeah, she sure has. And I can probably sketch out the rough schematics, but I know Artoo has them. The techs can't work on her anymore without him, because he's interfaced all the systems to himself." Luke got up to the cockpit so they could get going, not envying his father the use of Artoo's spot even for a surface skim. He did hand over his helmet to be nice about it.

Anakin laughed quietly, "Yeah, my Aethersprite is -- was, _kriff_ , going to have to start all _over_ \-- that way because of him, too." 

He made the jump up onto the body of the cockpit from a standing start, took the held-out helmet, and wedged himself down into Artoo's cupola, hiding as much of his body from the winds as he could. 

"Got to teach me that," Luke muttered, having climbed up with the minimal handholds there for a pilot without a ground crew. 

He kept his speed as low as he could once he had the ship powered up, hugging the dunes as he headed out to Ben's place.

+++

Ahsoka had, to the terror of the crew, attracted a slaving ship as her ride off of Malachor. She had given them one chance to surrender to her… and then killed them when they attacked her. The ship, she promised to the slaves, with any credits they found aboard it, so long as they dropped her on Tatooine first. 

She then had to teach one to actually pilot, as most of them were young. At least the kid had an aptitude for it, and she felt confident to leave them to their own devices when she opted to do a free-fall landing, using a life pod and evac suit to prevent the ship from having to make a landing on what, so far as she knew, was a Hutt planet.

On the planet, Anakin felt her come out of hyperspace, felt her quickly coming closer, and ducked out of the hut to check the sky and reach for her through the bond, making himself a beacon for her. 

That was perfect, helping Ahsoka plot the pod's trajectory. It would crash somewhere else, just in case it was tracked, but she could bail partway down, as easy as jumping out of a troop transport had been during the war.

Which was how Anakin came to find her plunging down and using a hissing jetpack to slow the landing that was a little too fast. She was using the Force to assist the jetpack, preparing to tuck and roll to bleed off the last kinetic energy if she had to.

He snorted at seeing her, checked across the bond to be certain that she didn't need another Push, and then what he was seeing really registered. She didn't look like his Snips. She looked more like Shaak Ti, all tall curving montrals and long lekku and graceful height, but her markings, even at a distance, were his Snips. "Luke," he called back inside, "she's here." 

Ahsoka snorted into the bond, and managed her landing so she only had to roll a few feet, tucked nicely for the landing to protect herself. Even the taller montrals didn't seem to impede her grace, before she came to her feet. Whereas she might have made a cheeky comment in the past, this time she just dusted herself off and walked over toward them.

Luke came out, seeing the non-human with curiosity. Red-bronze skin, high horns and long headtails, three of those, marked in white and blue, white marking on the face, all accented by form-fitting clothing and armor… two lightsabers! … all were so alien to Luke that he could not help but stare a little.

Anakin could feel Luke staring, but he was doing his own fair share for a moment before he shook himself out of it and moved to join her, reaching out both hands. He'd felt her mind, knew this was his Snips -- and she was alive, she was safe somehow, she was right here, where the rest of the Force was all so much blank darkness... 

"Hello," she called to the stranger, but for Anakin, having looked him over and _recognized_ him as too young to be the monster she had fought, she moved and reached out, grabbing hold of him to pull him into a crushing hug. "Skyguy," she breathed softly, grief and pain in that word, as well as a sliver of hope.

"Snips," Anakin whispered, his arms tightening as hard around her as she was holding him, the old familiar nickname sounding rough in her mouth, but so reassuring to him. "Snips, lit -- well, no, not anymore, are you? -- I... oh, Snips, you're okay..." 

"A bit miffed with Yoda, with myself, and with the Darker side of the Force right now, but… I'm fine." She nuzzled into his shoulder. "Come on; I'd rather not be in the open right now." She didn't trust the garrison to not be running spy droids, if her pod was tracked, and she wasn't betting against Vader having made a fuller entry on who 'Fulcrum' was in the years she had lost.

"Good plan," Anakin agreed, keeping his right arm wrapped around her as he pivoted sideways out of her grip, "Luke's told me some of what's going on. Right, speaking of. 

"Ahsoka Tano, meet my son, Luke Skywalker. Luke, this's -- obviously -- the padawan I mentioned." 

"Hi," Luke said, finding his voice was a lot younger than he'd meant to be. This person had a solid relationship with his father, and … he wasn't certain what that tangle of emotions was made of. A little envy, maybe, a little wariness because of the temper he'd seen, and maybe there was a yearning to know this woman's view on Vader.

She nodded to him. "Please, just call me Ahsoka, if I may call you Luke?"

"Of course!" Luke said quickly, before leading the way into the hovel… and two droids all but collided in their own attempt to get to her, both warbling their version of 'Snips' at her.

Anakin laughed at the pair of them, at both Artoos trying to get to his Snips, and actually did let go of her so that she could be reunited with them. He was even more amused as the elder one (the one he had boosters half-built for) beeped indignantly that [you just saw her!] and tried to push the young Artoo sideways. 

Ahsoka dropped down to her knees, opening her arms wide enough to get a droid at each side. "Oh Artooey, both of you!" she said, overwhelmed with joy for that reaction to her. "Best friend, always," she praised them, leaning her head against first one, then the other.

Luke felt some of his reservations fade at that simple reaction from Artoo and from her. She cared, strongly, and so did his droid. That made her less likely to be a problem.

[Lost you,] the elder one said. [No more visits to my ship.]

"Hmm, no, I got trapped on that planet I last went to," Ahsoka told him. She then stood up, resting hands on both domes briefly before going to take a seat where Anakin could lean into her. "So, do we have any idea what the Force is doing this time?"

"Not me," Luke said, amused, "not really." 

"Apparently," Anakin said, much less amused and more dark, "it decided to do something about its 'Chosen One' being a complete _idiot_ for the last twelve years and yell at me."

Ahsoka frowned. "You never really bought into that Chosen One business, I thought, Skyguy," she pointed out. "And you're not an idiot. I refuse to believe that. No matter what the kriff happened after I left; I know I don't know the whole story!"

"I don't," Anakin agreed, "must not have rolled my eyes loudly enou -- what do you _mean_ , you left?!" 

She'd left him? Left them? Why? How? 

Ahsoka turned to where she was facing him, refusing to apologize for what she now knew to be her only choice once she was given over to the tribunal. "I was removed from the Order, tried for treason, convicted even, before you brought in the real culprit.

"The Masters offered me a place, offered me my Knighthood… but tell me, Anakin, do you really think I could have stayed?"

Anakin stared at her, his momentary flash of panic subsiding at the look on her face, the stark pain and utter resolve, and he held his tongue on his first four reactions until he could get them into some kind of coherency. "Like _kriff_ you would **ever** do anything against the _Vod'e_ , what in _haran_ were they even _thinking_ , and no you damned well shouldn't have stayed if the Council could betray you that much!" 

"I never lost faith in you, Skyguy, even before you saved my life by showing up with the true traitor," she told him, before shifting back, her fingers lacing in his. "Now, maybe, I get to return the favor, and help you get back so you can save us all."

Luke watched, quietly, noticing they were … he would call it _intimate_ without the undertones of that being anything sexual. He wondered if this was a more normal training relationship, or if they were the exception. Which way would it go for him, if he ever found someone to teach… if they didn't get the history changed?

He squeezed her fingers a little, nodding once. That she'd known he would never give up on her, or believe that _poodoo_... that helped. Knowing he'd figured out who the real traitor was, who had framed his Snips, that helped more. He took a slow breath, and shrugged slightly. "I don't know how I'm supposed to get Artoo and I _back_... but I'm pretty sure we'll figure it out." 

Ahsoka took a deep breath. "Pretty sure I can figure that part out," she muttered. "But it means going to one of the planets that's a Force-strong nexus." She was hating that the stranding on Malachor was possibly so she would both be available to Anakin now, and to teach her that the Force could bend time when needed. As to being able to… she'd been listening to the whispers of that convor the whole time she had explored the underbelly of the Temple, and knew she was not quite just herself.

"How? And worlds can be like that?" Luke asked.

"There are a few worlds that are, Luke," Anakin answered, as he squeezed Ahsoka's fingers again, gently, because he could feel how distressed she was, and was worried about the reasons. "But even if Mortis was still there, I wouldn't want to step foot on it again, Snips."

"Kriff no!" she said with an explosive breath. "Not when you are probably just as touched by the Son as I am by the Daughter!" she told him. "No, we go back to Malachor, or I try and get the troll to answer me on where else might work!"

"Troll?" Luke asked, wondering if there was a literal race of childhood monsters. 

Anakin blinked, cocking his head as he looked at his Snips -- but then, if the Council had thrown her away, she would have even less love for Yoda than he did. "I think Snips means Yoda, Luke. The -- the Daughter stuck with you, Snips?" 

Ahsoka nodded, rather solemnly. "This convor kept showing up in places I went. I did some meditating about it, and it sings to me, and… yeah. She is part of me? Or I am her, or something.

"The convor annoyed Vald, Ventress's rancor, and that got _her_ prying at it -- no, you don't get to say anything about the company I keep. She's had a lot to teach me, and I've taught her stuff, and it's a mutually beneficial thing."

Luke kept silent; Yoda would convince them he'd changed, or nothing would. If they wound up going to Dagobah. And how was he going to manage that, for both of them? Maybe Ahsoka had something up her sleeve.

Anakin frowned at his padawan, that 'no you don't get to say anything' making his eyes narrow a little... but it was very much said in her most implacable tone, so he decided to not say anything. What he thought, about Asajj Ventress being anywhere near his padawan, was another story. He didn't like it, he was certain he was never going to like it, but... not his world. Not his world, not his time, _definitely_ not his future. 

This wasn't happening. None of it was. Except the existence of Padmè's children. That was the one thing worth making sure of, in all of this. "I noticed you showed up via life-pod, Snips, and Luke's only got his X-wing..." 

"I can get us a ship if I need to." She snorted. "Even if I have to steal one from Jabba. Or remind the huttlet of how stinky he was," she said slyly.

"He's a little dead, Jabba that is," Luke said, apologetically. "But we could probably find one of his ships, even _Slave I_ , as Boba Fett was among the dead too."

"Now there's a point," Anakin agreed, his mouth quirking just a little. He hadn't enjoyed striking Boba Fett down, not with everything he knew of him... but he'd been aiming at Luke. "Even if the survivors decided to steal as they fled, smugglers are notorious for hating slave circuits. There'll be a few ships left.

"I didn't see the Huttlet anywhere... not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one." 

"Hope he went into a better line of life, then!" Ahsoka said fiercely. "Not happy to hear Boba's dead." /Rex, you better still be out there, with Wolffe and Gregor!/ "But he lived like his father."

"We can go check the place out?" Luke suggested, ready to be gone from here, on his way to Yoda, hopefully.

"More _sand_ ," Anakin griped, glaring at the door. "But yes. We probably should go ahead and go." 

Luke wrinkled his nose. "Right, time to get the seat out of the X-Wing anyway, to fit all three of us in…"

+++++

Having acquired _Slave I_ , as no one had been up to the task of overriding Boba Fett's safeguards on it, and gone back to get the droids, Luke looked at the pair. 

"Anakin, I think before Ahsoka tries to send you back, maybe you should talk to Yoda? In case he knows pieces that are pertinent that I don't, that Artoo doesn't know?"

Ahsoka crossed her arms, but she was listening. Anakin knew it was her habit to keep the lekku from expressing any opinions she didn't want read, and since Luke had grown up here, she assumed he knew lekku language.

Anakin tapped his fingers against his thigh, thinking that over... and much as he disliked it, his son did have a point. A fairly good one, even. Yoda would have been in the midst of _whatever_ happened, unlike Ahsoka, who had been pushed away from his side. "He's right, Snips. No reason you have to see him, but I... probably should." 

"Oh, I don't mind seeing him," she said in that honeyed tone that boded ill for Yoda if he stepped out of line with her Skyguy. "Alright, so we go to … you said Dagobah? We can do that." She petted a hand over Artoo's, the younger one's, dome. "Ready to tackle this ship, Artooey?"

Luke had to smile at Artoo's enthusiastic whistling, and that nickname.

Anakin made a low noise at her honeyed tone, well aware that it meant she was contemplating chaos, but... he wasn't going to argue with her, either. He turned towards his son, able to see in those blue eyes that something was discomfiting Luke. "It's all right," he said softly, "it's not that long a trip from here."

Luke gave a sheepish look at that, then dropped his eyes and sighed. "I'd rather be able to get to know you a little more," he admitted.

"Well, you pilot with him, then, and let me handle your X-Wing," Ahsoka said easily enough. "Artoo, do you think I can handle his ship?"

Luke's droid gave a strong affirmative; he'd been along for enough of her piloting qualifications under Anakin's teaching to agree.

"Especially if you're with her, buddy?" Anakin asked, amused, but he flashed a quick smile at Ahsoka. "That works for me if it suits you, Luke." 

Luke hesitated only a heartbeat, then nodded. "Yeah, it does. Thank you."

"No problem; I've itched to get a chance to check out Incom's designs that have come out since the war, but Bail preferred I be less flashy moving around and use something more discreet. So I had a CR90 at my disposal." She shrugged. "Penalty of taking on spy-stuff."

"That makes sense," Anakin nodded, "and I completely understand wanting to get hands on her, so do I! But. Time for that later, maybe." 

"C'mon, Artooey," Ahsoka told the droid, and they all started moving out. She gave him a boost up to his spot, as the boosters weren't finished yet. The two men and the younger droid went into _Slave 1_ so they could get started too.

+++++

Dagobah gave Ahsoka a fit for a moment, but Artoo whistled to trust him for the landing, and she let him. Likewise, Luke had to handle the landing, and Anakin was not very impressed at being blinded to his surroundings.

That had the pair in a skittish enough, anger-laced mood as they looked around the swampy planet. Luke found the way they had moved to close the distance immediately, Ahsoka off Anakin's shoulder, almost uncanny, as the pair looked around.

Granted, they understood what they felt in the air, the press of Sith malice strong on their senses.

"This place," Anakin said -- soft and dangerous -- "is not somewhere an untrained youngling should have been. There's Sith presence _everywhere_." 

"Yoda said it masks his presence," Luke answered that. "And it's good to actually have confirmation it's not just me that it affects."

Ahsoka bared her teeth, all sharp and feral. "I don't like you being exposed to this, Skyguy. Not with everything hanging over you. But you'll be stronger this time. I have faith in you."

Anakin turned his head, reaching his left hand out for her. "I'm not fond of it either, but... is what it is. Okay, Luke. Which way from here?" 

Ahsoka took his hand, holding onto it firmly; she refused to let Jedi rules get in _her_ way. She was no Jedi, and meant to stand by that!

"This way. Artoo, stay here," he told his, getting a plaintive beep back. "You know it's too rough for you." Luke set out on the path he knew would take him to Yoda.

Anakin trailed his son, ducking the branches, snakes, and crawling creatures on the way, looking around at the frankly dismal swamp every so often and shuddering at the mist. It was cold, clammy, and generally disgusting... which wasn't generally something he thought about wet places. He liked water! But this was just... noxious. 

"Too much life, too many sounds, too closed in," Ahsoka said near his ear, softly so her voice didn't add to all the noise reverberating in her own head.

Luke didn't stop until he could see the faint light coming from Yoda's home. He was growing concerned that the Master hadn't already come out to meet them; he should know they were here, right?

Yoda was within the home he had made here on this planet, teeming with life and Sith presences alike. He had felt a massive disturbance in the Force recently, and searched for what it meant. He coughed, the years weighing heavily on him, concern for his vanished student as heavy a burden as the centuries, and... 

There were presences, strong Force presences, at least one of which was impossible, approaching his home. Coughing again, he pulled his gimer stick -- and his decades-unused lightsaber -- to him, and moved to step out of his home. 

Ahsoka could only stare. The ancient being actually looked impossibly old to her eyes, and she could feel the Force around and within him were separated by mere breaths. Yoda, she knew, was dying, and it made her clutch harder at Anakin's hand.

"Old, I am. Dead, I am not," Yoda told her, feeling her spike in emotions. "Return you have, Luke, with a riddle for me, hmm?"

"I did promise," Luke replied, worry slicing through him at the sight of Yoda looking so... frail, so... old, but as Yoda had said, he was not dead yet. "And I'm not sure about 'riddle', but definitely something unique? 

"Ahsoka thinks she can get him back where he belongs, but even with her and Artoo, there's so much we don't know about -- what happened. I thought... you might?" 

Anakin watched the ancient being -- and now he truly did look ancient, ancient and weak -- with an unusual flicker of concern. Yoda was far from his favorite of Masters, but he did, mostly, respect him.

"Inside, we shall go," Yoda said, as he felt satisfied that the one in front of him was still very much Obi-Wan's student, not the creature of evil he had become. "Talk, we will."

Ahsoka let go of Anakin's hand only when they went to enter the dwelling, but inside the cramped area, she felt completely justified to sit so that her back and shoulder were touching her former master.

"See this, I did not. Prepared for it, without understanding, I did," Yoda said as he settled himself. "Anger for it, you feel, Ahsoka."

"I lost nearly a decade of life, Yoda. Yes, I have anger. But I am in control of it, and my path is not yours," she said evenly. "If it means fixing everything that went wrong, then so be it."

Anakin moved to lean against her a little more than she already was, so proud of her maturity, her ability to put aside her anger and her pain -- and, not least, her ability to so calmly stand her ground against Yoda's disapproval. "I'm fairly sure no-one could have seen the Force being quite this... unique, Master Yoda." 

That got the dry chuckle that was familiar from older, better days. "Hmm, indeed," he said. "But, to stop the events, one must know them." He drew his eyes fully to Anakin's face, contemplating the best point to begin. "Protect your men, this you must. Enslaved by chips, yes, they were, and none of their generals could withstand such events."

Ahsoka grimaced and nodded. "That's a start on everything, yeah," she said.

"What do you _mean_ , enslaved?!" Anakin barely managed to keep his voice low enough not to reverberate from the walls, breathing slow and deep to stay calm -- but the idea of his men, all of their men, being enslaved even more than their creation had had his jaw setting hard. 

Luke felt that flare of anger, but... his father mastered it, kept himself focused, and watched them both. 

"Rex told me," Ahsoka said softly. "The chip all clones have in their head, and how it made it impossible for anyone with a functioning one -- which was the vast majority of the Army that had never taken a head injury -- could not ignore the orders given by the Supreme commander of the GAR," she said, very sadly. "Rex had been tipped off -- no I am not telling you how or why because you are going to fix this -- and had left to get his out just before things broke."

"Hmm, yes, said it well, your former padawan has," Yoda said. He hadn't even blinked at the anger; it was Anakin Skywalker, fueled by passion. "That, and poor decisions made by the Council, all let Darth Sidious have complete control of the fate of the Republic, and to kill the Jedi, yes." His voice was very sad as he said the last.

"I couldn't imagine," Anakin said, swallowing against nausea and anger both, those words playing over in his head a few times, "how all of the Jedi could have been killed. But that -- he used _our men_ to kill almost all of us?" He would be calm, he _would_. Which meant he needed to pay attention to Yoda's other words instead. "I'm surprised to hear _you_ admit the Council could... misstep so badly as that." 

"Hmm." Yoda drew in a deep, labored breath. "Trusting not in you, we set the seeds of destruction. By the time we did, too late it was. Understand you, we did not."

Ahsoka about staggered, mentally, to hear that come from the master they had known for so long. He had been such a stalwart of Jedi Code keeping! She shifted her hand, so it rested on Anakin, almost vibrating to hear it.

Anakin, for his part, was as stunned as it felt like Ahsoka was, and for long moments, even minutes, he couldn't do anything but stare at Yoda. He knew the Council didn't entirely trust him, had never wanted him... but to hear Yoda say it like that... "That's always been true, Master. 

"But that doesn't -- explain. How I could -- " 

"Hmm, a mystery to me, until our friend from Naboo's funeral. Leverage, I think, used against you, it was. Master Kenobi, to him fell her care. Dying for no reason, the med droid stated." Yoda did say it as gently as he could, and Ahsoka was already moving to actually get an arm around Anakin, to lend him support.

Funeral. Naboo. 'Her care.' 

He'd known Padmé was dead here, Luke not knowing her had already proven that... but hearing Yoda say it, especially with that gentleness... "Ar-Artoo said that I -- that I hurt her. That Obi-Wan came back to save her. What... how could someone die for 'no reason', Master?" 

And if he had been insane enough to hurt Padmé... what had _happened_?! 

"Of Mustafar, Master Kenobi would not speak," Yoda told him. "As to the Senator, believe the Sith Master stole her life, giving it to you in the remaking, I fear.

"As to how, know not, I do." Yoda shifted the way he was leaning, both hands folded on the end of his stick. "Choices made, on many sides. Blame is shared, yes." He peered intently at Anakin. "Champion your position to Obi-Wan, when you return, you should. Heart-broken, he was. For all that happened, especially to his brother, and the mother of his brother's children."

Anakin stared back at him, pushing his fingers through his hair as he contemplated those words. For all of their struggles, the idea of breaking Obi-Wan's heart -- his brother's heart -- of ever intentionally hurting him... was revolting. He loved Obi-Wan, more than anyone in the Order but Snips. No matter their problems, even the times his Master had slapped him down, he loved him. Even knowing Obi-Wan would be disappointed at that, too (along with all of the other ways he disappointed him), he couldn't imagine not loving him. 

Ahsoka squeezed gently. "Yoda is right on one thing. Opening up to Obi-Wan is a good place to start with guarding you from whatever Sith manipulations are in your head," she said. "I could probably undo them in this time, send you back clean of them, but… the me then can't. And I feel you would probably trust him more than me, anyway, having a longer history with him and all."

Under his shields, panic crawled clawed and fanged along his spine. He had to protect his men, had to get whatever this was in their heads _fixed_ , had to be there for them. He couldn't risk being forced away from them by his Master's adherence to the Code, couldn't endanger them like that, abandon them to any other Jedi's leadership that wouldn't _know_ them, know when Fives needed an ear or Joc needed to be in the gym, where the line you couldn't push Rex past was -- 

"Father," Luke said, soft, watching the wild build in the blue of Anakin's eyes, feeling something wrong despite the shielding, "it's okay..." 

"Traps, within your own mind, Anakin," Yoda said softly. "Resist being controlled, you do by nature. Use that and hold at bay the traps," he urged. "Controlling you, the Sith plan is."

Ahsoka inspected her nails, putting on a deliberately casual air. "You know, Master," she said to Anakin, as if just carrying on a conversation, "Vader even has a chain, to show the Emperor's claim on him." She was aiming to make him angry… at the Chancellor, to let him use his biggest flaw to fight back against the plans surrounding him.

Luke's voice had pulled him back out of his own head, and Master Yoda's almost wry comment about his nature had almost gotten him to smile -- it was true, and one of the things every Master had had the most trouble with with him. The idea of Yoda encouraging him to use that fact had amused him -- when Ahsoka spoke, and the faint amusement popped like a balloon hit by a blowtorch. His gaze snapped back to her, fury starting to roil up in him, rage a breath behind it.. .and he remembered Luke's tears and his fear, the grief and hopeless despair in his son's eyes and mind. 

He took a breath, two, and shunted everything he was feeling into the Force before it could escape his control and harm his son again, looking away from her to him. "It will be, son," he murmured, soft. 

/Isn't that interesting?/ Ahsoka thought behind her own shields, wondering at what had happened before she got to Anakin to give him that pressure valve and brake on his temper.

"I really hope so, Father," Luke said softly. "I'd really like to know my mother, grow up with my sister."

Yoda's ears twitched at the mention of Luke's sister, but then… they'd mentioned Artoo being in the mix of Anakin learning things.

"You're going to," Anakin answered, still breathing slow and even, "that, I promise you. And Snips... as plans go, that was a seriously kriffed one. I'm already about as furious with the Chancellor as I can get without Falling, Luke and Artoo already made _sure_ of that.

"And I'd like to not frighten him again."

"Sorry, Skyguy." She met his eyes clearly, though. "I want you to use that anger as your shield. Because I know, better than anyone but Rex and Obi-Wan, just how well you can use it to protect others."

That was not the Jedi way. But Yoda didn't say it. He knew Ahsoka walked a far different path than he ever could. If she thought it would do Anakin Skywalker good to use his anger, when he'd only ever seen destruction from that, maybe she had a better insight.

Anakin let his gaze hold hers, startled but interested almost despite himself. Everyone in his life had always chided him about his anger, made him more than half afraid of it, and with the way his rage had hurt Luke he was more uneasy yet -- but Snips wouldn't steer him wrong, either. "...all right, Snips. That -- we're going to have to talk about that, about how to do it, but. 

"I need every advantage I can get with this." 

Luke shook his head slightly, out of sight of them both, and wondered at how anyone could think that that blinding torrent of rage could be protective instead of devastating... but he didn't say it. Yoda wasn't objecting, so there had to be something to the idea.

Ahsoka breathed easier then, and moved to settle back at his knee, leaning into him, and giving him her support. "Chip, Prune-Face, talking to Obi-Wan… what am I forgetting?" Ahsoka murmured softly, more to herself.

"Mmm, acting quicker, fewer people far from Skywalker when time comes," Yoda mused, thinking through the catalysts of those awful days. "But proof, to bring down the Chancellor then, unsure how to provide it."

Ahsoka nodded. "All my time as Fulcrum, I never stumbled on anything that would be helpful there… but then, I wasn't really looking. I was just trying to keep people free, or give them ways to resist."

Anakin slid his arm down around his Snips, leaning back a little and thinking. He opened his eyes again after a few moments, looking to Yoda. "...if it's Sidious and Vader, now... what happens -- happened? -- to Dooku?" 

Yoda's ears laid back. "Dead on the _Invisible Hand_ , shortly before the Purge, he was. A kidnapping, you and Obi-Wan foiled, in which he died. The report, clear it was not, on the manner of his death." He sighed slightly. "Obi-Wan, unconscious during the fight, is mentioned in the report."

Obi-Wan down. A mission, a rescue, he hadn't given much if any information on... and Dooku dead. "...that kidnapping," he said, soft, barely aware that he was speaking, "it was the Chancellor, wasn't it?" 

"Yes," Yoda answered, hoping Anakin could see that he had wanted to spare him that part of the past, given how much pain was already in the room.

Ahsoka remained still and quiet, just lending her presence as a buffer, if Anakin needed it.

Anakin tapped his fingers against his knee, his tactical mind and the Force turning over that information, contemplating what the Chancellor knew about him, Obi-Wan down and helpless, Dooku there as the obvious threat, the chance to _really_ be the hero, to protect all of his men... That the Sith Master had been grooming him since he was a child, which meant -- "He threw Maul away, recruited Dooku... but if he's really been after me all this time..." 

Luke looked at his father expectantly, to see what the answer was, but it was Ahsoka who finished the thought.

"Something happened in that fight, to start your Fall," she reasoned. "The Chancellor pushed you then, and probably didn't let up, until he had you fully."

"Probable, it is," Yoda agreed.

Anakin nodded. "So how well do you two think Dooku would take that idea? That he's just as disposable to his Master as 'that animal' was?" He'd heard Dooku say that assessment of Maul once, and it had solidified his hate of the man a little more. No sentient being was an animal, unless they all were. 

Yoda slowly smiled. "Pride, my student's downfall. Arrogance, always. Given that truth, perhaps turn on his newer master, he would," the ancient being agreed.

"If, you know, you can get him to listen to you, Skyguy… but you do have a way of being persuasive when you want to be," Ahsoka told Anakin as Luke processed the full impact of knowing Yoda had trained a Fallen Jedi personally.

"Sometimes," Anakin agreed, smiling a little more sharply as he looked at Yoda's edged smile with a flicker of relief. If Yoda thought it was a tactic worth trying... he'd find a way to get in touch with the man he came so close to hating. "All right, so that's worth trying." 

"You've got a plan, then," Ahsoka said, grinning up at him, even as she half-wished she could go back with him, help him through it. He'd been her rock at one of the worst moments in her life… and she hated the idea of making him shoulder this alone.

Only, he wouldn't be. Not if he went to Obi-Wan straight away.

"It's okay, Snips. You'll be with me anyway," Anakin told her, even as he couldn't help but grin back at her. "And so will he." 

"Yeah." She nodded to that. "Artoo remembering all of what the older version told him will help too," she added.

"Hmm, reliable, that is." Yoda let out a deep breath, then closed his eyes to rest, just a moment, as the full weight of what was happening, what might potentially come of this, settled around his weary soul.

"Always," Anakin agreed, unable to do anything but grin at the reminder of Artoo's ability to help. There was too damned much of this shit, and worry for his men had his temper up to stay, but... they could do this. 

"You will do this, Father. I feel it." Luke let his own calm assurance spread in the Force, completely unconsciously, even as he glanced toward Yoda with concern.

Anakin turned his head, flashing his son a quick smile -- one Obi-Wan would have worried over -- as he nodded. "I have to, Luke. My men, and my padawan," his arm tightened around Snips, "need it. I can't let them down." 

"And you won't," Ahsoka said quietly, pushing just a little Force energy to Yoda; she could feel him fading with the stress, but wanted to spare Luke that, even if this entire version of their lives was hopefully going to be erased.

//Kind, you are. Tired, I am.// Yoda's touch in her mind was far lighter than any other attempt to communicate.

//I'd rather Luke didn't learn another attachment lesson before I get him and Anakin away from here,// she replied fiercely.

Luke shook his head, just a little, wondering at the sheer determined strength in his father, the depth of his caring and devotion, but he smiled, too. That flash of a grin from Anakin reminded him so much of Han that his chest ached, wondering for a moment if in this new path they were writing, he would ever know the stubborn, brazen Corellian, but he set that aside. "Can't think of any better reasons than that." 

"Neither can I," Anakin agreed, then looked at his Snips, able to tell she was doing something, but not quite what. "So. Anything else before we throw me back at this?" 

"Think not, I do," Yoda said wearily, understanding and even appreciating the sentiment in Ahsoka's use of power. He didn't want Luke's last moments as he was to be full of grief either.

"I think you have what you need to do it, Skyguy," Ahsoka told him, wanting to get on the move. "Luke, are you escorting us?"

"Absolutely," Luke agreed, before moving over to Yoda to crouch next to him. "Thank you, Master. For teaching me, for this." 

Yoda smiled at him, and then reached out and patted Luke's shoulder. "I will know you again, my padawan." He looked at Anakin. "And be a better Jedi for it, when your father has taught me lessons I need."

Anakin blinked, shocked, but then he nodded. What they had learned in this future still had to be taught in Yoda's past... and he would do whatever it took to keep his people safe. He let go of Snips slowly to get out of the hut -- this place was _not_ built for him, in the slightest -- and waited for the other two to join him. 

"Yes," Luke agreed softly, and bowed his head before turning to follow Anakin out the door. 

Ahsoka stayed, just a moment more. "I will not fail to get him back there," she vowed softly.

"Remember, all changes have ripples, they do," Yoda said in warning. "Know the cascade, we do not, but faith in you, I have." He bowed his head to her, and she gave him a smaller nod before leaving him, walking with her head held high.

She would be a very different woman in Anakin's new future, as Luke would be a different young man, but the risk of an unknown future far outweighed the present they lived in, and all of its losses.

+++++

"You were trapped here, for how long?" Luke asked Ahsoka as they came out to sublight in view of the forbidding planet of Malachor.

"Near as I can figure close to nine years ago was when I came, but… that much time did not pass for me." Ahsoka drew in a deep breath, letting herself connect with that overwhelming presence of the Force that radiated here. She had to do this, had to make Anakin reach his time safely. As she reached, the part of her that was still … alien to her own concept of self stirred, feeding her the ability to see the conduits of energy that would make that happen once they set down.

Anakin had claimed the X-Wing for this leg of the trip, flying with the elder Artoo, both to check out the X-Wing's systems and to center himself doing what he did best, fly solo. Luke had had some moments of tense nerves, as _Slave I_ 's instruments picked up the things Anakin was doing with his ship, but at the same time, it was obvious that he was in complete control. 

Ahsoka's words were more interesting, right now. "...I'm sorry, what? 'That much time' didn't pass for you?"

Ahsoka shifted to show what was obviously a very recently healed lightsaber burn on the edge of her shoulder. "I healed that, after I had the energy to do so, after the fight. It's still a little tender, if I'm honest about it," she told him. "I was still sore from the fight, in most of my muscles and definitely my back from falling so many stories, when I felt Anakin reach for me.

"Yet it was only the fourteenth Imperial Year when I went with Kanan and Ezra to this planet, and you told me it was Imperial Year twenty-three now." She sighed ever so slightly. "I am trying hard to focus on the fact that my friends, my clan, my mate will never have that memory, of not knowing, but suspecting I had died, for so long. Because Anakin will succeed."

"You have family?" Luke asked with surprise. She smiled softly at him.

"Kid, I have had family my whole life. My youngling clan were siblings to me. Master Plo Koon was like a father. Anakin _is_ my truest brother. The _Vod'e_ took me into their hearts and won mine completely. 

"And, after the war, I managed to prove to Rex I wasn't just a kid sister anymore," Ahsoka said with that same soft smile. "It took him awhile, but we said our vows to one another and wouldn't have it any other way. The Jedi manner of no attachments is total bunk; I fight harder because I have them… and I know how to put duty first."

Luke cocked his head at her, then just gave up and nodded. "That sounds about right to me. I... won't, can't, give up the people I love. I mean, I guess I am, because if Father fixes things I'm going to be very different... but Leia would never forgive me if I didn't do everything I can to help." 

"That's putting duty ahead of personal attachments, Luke. Which is what a solid light-side Force user should be able to do," Ahsoka told him. "It's what the Order never understood about ones like me. We can choose to put the many above our selfishness. Anakin… has trouble with that. And he's the one that taught me to look for the way to do both."

Luke nodded slowly, thinking he understood that -- and that it was a very succinct way to put something that Yoda had struggled to explain. "That makes sense, I think. Guess we ought to get set down before Father gets any more impatient?"

"Go for it, Kid. A Skywalker aboard means a Skywalker pilots," she teased him. "Used to be an easy way to know he really was badly injured if he let me do it."

Luke laughed quietly, "Gotten used to being on the _Falcon_ , which generally means I'm on the quad-cannons." He got the ship back to moving, heading for the surface -- following her few directions and the pull of the Force... though the Force here almost hurt just to touch. 

Ahsoka, though, opened herself to that pull, shunting the darker part of it down, but not away, so that she could ready for what needed to be done. Once they were down and she could, she moved out of the ship, unsurprised when the convor swooped in and landed on her shoulder, trilling at her.

"Yes, I know," she said softly, using the tip of her finger to stroke a feather. "We will do this." Her eyes sought out Anakin, not liking having him exposed to so much of what this planet offered.

Anakin dropped to the ground easily, looking warily at their surroundings even as he turned to make certain that Artoo's new boosters were working properly. This place... it felt like coming home, and it made every inch of his skin hurt and crawl. He moved quickly towards Ahsoka, stretching out a hand to her, searching her face. If she'd spent so long here, how was she all right? 

She reached for his hand, lacing her fingers in his. She smiled at that searching look, shaking her head slightly. The convor launched away from them the instant she touched Anakin's hand, half-confirming her suspicions.

"I'm fine, Skyguy. This place is heavy in the darkness, yes. But the dark needs light to cast its shadows." She moved to hug him briefly, then stepped back. "Say 'see you in a better future' to Luke, so I can get this moving, okay?"

Luke had to grin a little. Sometimes, Ahsoka's casual attitude reminded him of Han, and then she'd get as serious as Leia. He suddenly realized that the Luke that would hopefully grow up in that new, better future would probably know her far better.

"I know you can do this," Luke told Anakin, though, reinforcing his faith in the man his father could be.

"Thank you, Luke," Anakin answered softly, and then he flashed a quick grin, "and I'll see you soon. In a better life. Come on, Artoo, it sounds like Snips has an idea." 

Ahsoka gave Luke a little wave, then led Anakin and Artoo toward the low entrance, the one that she had gone inside after fighting Vader, to get away from the damage and destruction. She could feel the flow of energies, guiding them to a place where the Force seemed to be almost physical.

"Stand… here." She marked the spot to Anakin, and he could feel it trying to tear at him, as if it recognized him as something that didn't belong. "Hand on Artoo, and visualize the _Resolute_ as it was when you left to go investigate the anomaly." She would try and follow the whispers in her own mind to guide that journey, but felt strongly that it was Anakin's will, more than anything, that was going to make this work.

Time, after all, was not meant to change, and impact against it was a destructive power, even when used for the better, as they meant to do now. That put it more in the Son's realm, than the Daughter's, but together, they could not fail.

Anakin did as she directed, making certain he had a grip on Artoo before he took the final step into place, and once he had, he focused on his memory of the bridge before the turbolift doors closed. Of his Snips shifting into the space he'd left vacant, Rex beside her, Admiral Yolaren standing on the command deck just barely in his view. The _Resolute_ 's Fleet crew, human and nonhuman alike all at their stations. The sense of the 501st moving throughout the ship, training and sleeping and playing with each other. Each of them unique in the Force, Snips a stronger presence than any other -- his bright-shining impetuous padawan, most beloved of any woman except Padmé in his life... 

Ahsoka actually closed her eyes to work this Force manipulation; she rarely needed to, but she'd never done anything like this. Letting the piece of her that was the Daughter guide, she shaped the energies to open the path back for Anakin.

Half a heartbeat after Anakin vanished, she opened her eyes… and then the world shimmered away.

+++++

Obi-Wan was trying hard to keep the panic on the _Resolute_ to a minimum. That was difficult to do when he was more than a parsec away, using field communication equipment.

"Ahsoka, ships don't just vanish; you're certain he didn't have his hyperspace ring?" he asked the padawan. He had his mind tightly shielded, as usual when he was in combat situations, to avoid feeling the full impact of his men dying. He couldn't just try to reach for the bond, always so tenuous with Anakin, without opening up to that.

And they had to have missed something. He couldn't believe anything would take Anakin out so effortlessly.

"Master Kenobi," and he knew she was earnest now, using his formal rank and title, "we all saw the phenomenon, we all saw his ship approach it, and then he vanished. With the phenomenon."

"I can't break away right now, Ahsoka. We've got a full legion of Separatists here, and do not yet have them contained. But I will come investigate as soon as we do. Until then, you are in command. Rely on Captain Rex and Admiral Yularen's experience to guide you, but you, padawan, are the Commander."

Ahsoka took a shaking breath, forcibly drawing her calm and composure in around herself. "Yes, sir. We'll keep things under control here. But I will be very glad to see you when you can get here." 

"I have faith in you; Anakin has trained you well," Obi-Wan said, just to bolster the girl, and because it was true. "It won't take long," he added.

"Thank you, Master," Ahsoka answered, knowing her lekku were darkening at the faith and praise alike. " _Resolute_ out." 

/Master,/ she thought as the transmission ended, the place in her mind where the bond should be lying aching and empty, /where _are_ you?!/ 

There was no answer, and she started to move, to pace -- but that wasn't fit for a Commander. She made herself be still, breathing, and looked up at Rex, arching one brow-marking a little to see what he thought. 

Rex had just opened his mouth when there was a surge, a powerful, almost blinding _ripple_ in the Force, and Ahsoka's hands clutched at her montrals and eyes. It shimmered, struggled, and then she could feel her Master again. She flung her will at that sense of him, grateful he was there, and the world doubled, tripled, before suddenly air moved all around her, violently displaced, and there were more bodies in her sense of the world. 

Anakin groaned, dropping heavily onto a knee -- the _Resolute_ 's decking clanging with the impact, his young Padawan's presence a desperate blaze in his mind, the world sheened with an over-bright haze... 

"Master!" Ahsoka moved to him, quickly, trying both hold on to him physically to reassure herself and to support him. "Skyguy, what in the galaxy… Artooey!" Noticing the droid had her flinging a hand over to his casing, resting it on the familiar metal body.

There were plaintive warbles, but Artoo did not, yet, start fussing over the knowledge they had brought with them.

"Welcome back, General," Rex said, as his mind reeled from the impossibility. /Force things!/ he told his brain, as it itched from being strained to believe what he was seeing.

"Ahsoka," Anakin murmured, so relieved, his left arm wrapping as tight around her as he could get the grip, holding her hard against his chest and keeping that mental contact as well. The world was still hazed and painful, but she was the age she should be, right here and safe with her beads where they were supposed to be. There, bare paces away, was Rex, young and strong and the shield at his back and the sharp mind that was the legion's best weapon. Artoo, beside him, unhappy but safe. "Rex.

"Shh, Artoo, shh now, old friend..." 

Artoo made a smaller beep, then whistled low in relief. They were back where and when they belonged; now his pilot could fix everything!

"You scared Rex, Skyguy," Ahsoka said, impish sense of humor coming to the forefront, even as she kept her own arm locked around him, letting the sound and smell and feel of him soak into her so that her nerves would settle.

Rex made a noise at that, one that might have been protest. "Only because it is harder to look after the Jedi that is in charge, than the one assisting… and General Kenobi just put her in command."

Anakin snorted, winced immediately after, and kept hold of Ahsoka even as he looked towards his Captain. "She's gonna have to keep that for a bit. So, Obi-Wan knows. How long was I... gone?" 

Ahsoka glanced at Rex, wrinkling her nose at him, before answering that last. "Not quite an hour? We did sensor sweeps, sent Whipsaw out to cautiously survey it, and then tried to get Master Obi-Wan on comms," Ahsoka reported to him. 

"No debris, and only fading sensor anomalies," Rex added to that. "I hope you can explain this, sir, in your report, because mine is going to be a very large 'unknown'."

The rest of the bridge crew had looked their way, and the Admiral almost came over, then decided the better of it. The Jedi were odd, and his were odder than some, but they seemed whole and neither blasters nor lightsabers were flaring yet.

"...an hour. _Great_ ," Anakin growled, managing not to shake his head by firm concentration alone, "just great. Better part of three days for me, and an hour here. I am getting _tired_ of that.

"And sure I can explain it, Rex, it's just insane." 

"Three days?" Ahsoka squeaked. "Really?" She then sighed. "Skyguy, I thought we agreed that you took me on all the adventures!" she teased him, trying to make him feel a little better.

"I thought the agreement was to not take you on them," Rex argued that, as the last 'adventure' had nearly gotten both of them dead. "Is there anything I can assist you with, General?" he asked.

Anakin made a quiet noise at both of them for the fussing at each other, even as his arm tightened a little more around his Snips. Having her there, having her hear what had -- _no_. 

But none of that was ever going to happen. She was going to be _fine_ , and grow up an incredible Jedi he was going to be even more proud of. Rex had asked him a question, he reminded himself, yanking his mind firmly back to where it needed to be. "...other than putting Ahsoka in charge, did my Master say anything?" 

"That he would be here as soon as he can be, which is not now, because they have Seppies to beat," Ahsoka told him. "I'm betting he'll be done with that quick, because he really didn't believe me when I said you vanished, and he's going to have to prove me wrong somehow." She rolled her eyes a little.

Artoo squawked that they certainly had vanished, and he still hated getting sand in his motors.

"I know, Artoo," Anakin soothed, patting the shining dome lightly (so that the ring of metal on metal wasn't so loud) even as he cast Rex an amused look about Snips' failing to notice she wasn't the one being asked. 

"And just because I'm back doesn't -- at all -- mean we weren't gone. Kriffing _Tatooine_ , then a karking _swamp_... I want a _bath_ ," he muttered the last, knowing he wasn't going to get one. But the sheer luxury of soaking in water was one he never got tired of, even though he almost never indulged in them. 

Rex just gave a slight shrug; Ahsoka was enthusiastic about carrying on conversations, and that suited him well enough.

"Ugh, Tatooine. And we'll get you an oil soak, Artoo, the next time we're on a planet with facilities," Ahsoka promised the droid. "Which might be when you get to have that bath, Skyguy," she added.

"Might be," Anakin agreed, "probably will, even." 

He should, probably, let go of his Padawan. 

He didn't want to. 

He would do it, one day, when she was grown and could face the galaxy on her own as a Knight... but right now, he did not want her out of his grasp, let alone his reach. He didn't actually approve of that Rex was where he couldn't get a hand on him, but he only had two of those, anyway. 

"Yeah, Rex, there is, actually. You can intercept any comms that come my way," he answered and let go of Artoo long enough to unfasten his comm-gauntlet and toss to Rex's hand. 

Rex caught it easily and hooked it to his belt. "Will do, sir." He then left the Jedi alone, going back to studying the intel and sensor intercepts, to try and find where the next attack was coming from.

"Food, sonic shower, rest for you?" Ahsoka asked, using her own practiced patience to not fidget. She could feel that Anakin had some raw spots in his psyche, and she didn't want to make it worse for him.

"...probably the right idea," Anakin agreed quietly. Kriff it, that meant he had to let go of her... 

"Come on, lean on me," she encouraged, sliding to be under his arm to help him back to his feet. "I'll help you out. As long as you make sure Master Obi-Wan knows you did disappear, and he doesn't fuss at me," she said cheerfully.

Best Padawan. Anakin nodded and moved, bracing on her as the room swam around him. "...I don't _get_ vertigo," he protested unhappily, before lifting his right hand in a wave at the Admiral. 

Yularen gave him a bare nod before dealing with his own crew and duties. The Jedi was fine; it was business as usual.

Ahsoka took him to his quarters, her slim shoulders under his arm the whole while. "You into the 'fresher. I'll run get a couple of trays of food while you get clean and be right back, alright?"

His arm tightened around her for a moment, despite his best intentions, before he nodded and let her slide out from under his arm. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan, Snips. See you in a few." 

"Be right back." She didn't know why he felt clingy. He was, though, and she knew it, and she was going to lean into that. Anakin worked easier and better when his few little attachment issues were catered to… and she really didn't mind being important to him at all. That was what clan was. 

She darted back out, down through the ship to their mess, where they ate with the troops, and wheedled two trays out of the cooks. She knew she could just order them, but it was far more fun to ask and play with them over letting her take two trays out of the mess hall.

Going back took a little longer; she didn't want to spill anything, and was glad she'd grabbed spill-proof beverages. Luckily, troops dodged her as ably as she dodged them, and she made it back well before Anakin had decided he was actually clean.

He felt her out in the main room and scrubbed a little more firmly at his skin -- not that he was supposed to need to in a sonic 'fresher, but he could still feel the sand and the mist -- to get out a little faster. He hauled on clean smallclothes and leggings and pulled a robe up his arms, then got back out to her. 

Still the right Ahsoka, his bright impudent Snips with her beads hanging where they were supposed to be... good. Good. 

"You're staring at me every time you see me," Ahsoka pointed out. "Three days is enough to make you miss me that bad, Skyguy?" she asked him cheekily, settled with one tray in front of herself. "Does this mean you won't send me on a field trip any time soon with some other master?"

He acquired the other tray and slid into her space, fingertips of his right hand settling on her shoulder, careful to avoid the lekku. "It was a really awful three days, Snips," he told her, "and kriff, no. No field trips. And you glue yourself to one of the Vod'e if you're not with me, until I tell you otherwise." 

She looked up at him, heard him with all her Force senses and hearing alike, then nodded once. "Rex and Fives will be so tired of me," she said cheerfully, envisioning just what she could get them to teach her when she was with them. Orders to not be alone? This was looking uglier than she imagined. "Waiting for Master Obi-Wan before you talk about it?" she asked, pretty certain he didn't want to tell it twice.

He snorted, contemplating rescinding that for a moment just to save Rex's ears, but... no. Ahsoka hadn't said much about what had happened to her, but she couldn't be framed if she was with one of the boys. "Very definitely waiting," he agreed, now that he knew that she understood what he'd told her. 

He left his metal hand where it was as he settled to eat with his left. 

She took that as invitation to more or less tuck in along his side; she definitely had never picked up this thing called 'personal boundaries' as an Initiate, and certainly not as his padawan living among clone troopers.

"I did right, contacting Master Obi-Wan, I hope? I mean, I had this gaping hole in my mind… I think he would have contacted us first if he wasn't in battle," Ahsoka said, blithely assuming that they hadn't fully severed their training bond, based on how they fought and interacted.

Anakin relaxed a little as she tucked herself against him, the contact soothing, her closeness washing away some of his fears that he was going to screw this up. "You did fine, Snips," he told her, leaning against one montral for a moment. "Just fine. 

"Not too likely that he would've, but maybe. And I need him here as fast as he can get here, so." 

"I bet he's already chased the Seppies down and is on his way," she said confidently. "After all, he's half of Skywalker-and-Kenobi, right?" she teased him. She honestly didn't envy them that fame and prestige; she was content to keep her name from being known by more than the Vod'e to be honest.

Anakin opened his mouth, something cutting about Obi-Wan putting it the other way around ready to come off his lips -- and snapped his jaw back shut in the next moment as he made himself question the instant flare of wounded pride and sarcasm. That wasn't true, Obi-Wan didn't care about the fame, despised it almost as much as he did himself, and it... 

That was the Chancellor -- the _Sith_ \-- talking. "So he is," he replied finally, several seconds too late. 

Ahsoka twisted to get a better look at his face, then stopped eating and just wrapped her arms around his waist as she snuggled closer to him. He needed reassurance, so much, and she couldn't ignore that voice inside her demanding she give it to him.

"Hey, Snips," he murmured softly, rearranged his hand on her side to hold her, and went back to getting around the meal in front of him. Food and sleep -- preferably with her close-by -- now, dealing with the threat to their troops, his wife and friends, and the Republic and Order once Obi-Wan was here. 

She wasn't protesting the plan, and curled up like a lothcat near him when he finished eating, knowing it was best not to poke him too much.

+++++

Anakin snapped awake as he felt his Master drop back into normal space, and reached out across the frayed, tattered mess that was their bond outside of battle, latching on, so relieved. //Master.// 

//Well, hello, Anakin.// There was a faint sense of confusion, then relief… deeper than Obi-Wan really would have preferred to show… and vague amusement. Obi-Wan was deft at turning his pain to humor and wit, so finding his worry over Anakin needless had him latching on to that. //I told your padawan you couldn't simply vanish.//

//Oh, no, I very much _did_ vanish,// Anakin replied, sharp and focused, not wanting Obi-Wan to get too relaxed, the depth of that relief faintly startling, but... //I just... made it back. 

//Thank stars and saints, you're _here_. You're all right.// 

//This, I have to hear. I'll dock shortly.// Obi-Wan pondered that deep emotion from Anakin, and worried, deep inside, as to what his padawan had gotten into this time.

//My quarters. This... isn't for others to hear. See you soon.// 

Obi-Wan shook his head, though it couldn't be seen. "This is either the break in the war we need, or Anakin's had enough and is running away to Naboo," he muttered inside his ship, carefully not letting the astromech hear him.

It did not take long to come aboard the _Resolute_ , nor to home in on not just Anakin, but Ahsoka, in the Knight's quarters. He paused at the door, tapping lightly, just in case he was interrupting a teaching moment.

Anakin lifted his gaze and thumped the panel with the Force to open the door, patting Snips lightly on the shoulder. "Okay, Snips. Go take over on the bridge, alright?" 

"Alright, Skyguy," she said, but not without one final hug for him. She wanted to know… but she would be told what was necessary when it suited him, not before. She grinned at Obi-Wan in passing, then took up a jog to get up and relieve Rex… and tell him that she was under orders to be accompanied, if he would be so kind as to set up a roster of volunteers.

Letting her out of his sight had his right hand tensing and flexing, but his Master was there now, his Master was right here, and he pushed up from his seat to cross the distance between them and invade Obi-Wan's space, dragging him in as tight as he could. 

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan was startled, but he slowly settled his own arms around Anakin, feeling awkward as he did so, and hating that he did feel that way. Hugging was a perfectly normal and allowable affection between members of the Order. Why did he have trouble remembering hugs with Anakin during their training years? Had he really been that standoffish? Or unwelcome, as his own mind insisted?

"Shut up and hug," Anakin retorted at Obi-Wan's shoulder before he hooked his jaw over it. "I just spent three days twenty-plus years in a future that Is. Not. Happening." 

"Yes, Anakin." Obi-Wan smiled and tightened his arms around the younger man, closing his eyes. He opened the bond up a little, prodding at his former padawan there to get a better feel for what was going through his mind. Those words made no sense.

Anakin latched back onto the bond, burrowing in against him, holding on with mind and body alike. //It can't happen, Master. It _can't_.//

//You'll have to help me understand more, Anakin, but I will support you in fixing things that evidently went awry.// Obi-Wan coaxed his brother-in-arms toward sitting with him, opting for the small couch that was the only surface short of the floor or bed where they could.

Anakin moved with Obi-Wan and settled against the back and arm of the couch, keeping hold of his brother, his Master, as they settled down. //I know. And it's not so 'eventually'. I -- // 

There was so much he had to tell him, and so much of it was bad, and he wasn't even sure where to start, it just -- 

//I'm here, Anakin. We can work through this.// Obi-Wan hesitantly brought his hand up to stroke through Anakin's hair. That had always helped settle himself when Qui-Gon had done it in moments like this. He couldn't help the pang of loss on thinking of his lost master on that thought, and was too deeply in the bond for Anakin not to feel it too.

Anakin leaned into the touch, relaxing a little for Obi-Wan's certainty. They could, they woul -- 

That was pain, deep and intense, in his Master's mind, and Anakin wrapped around him a little more firmly, almost seeing Master Qui-Gon's face in Obi-Wan's mind, and he made a soft, soothing noise even as surprise flickered in the back of his mind. //We have to. We can't -- I can't -- let him win.// 

Too much of his rage rode along that 'him', he realized too late. 

//Him?// Was that a darkly dressed man, face in shadow for some reason? Obi-Wan kept petting the hair, trying to focus more on the weight of Anakin's anger at the person. It felt like a deep betrayal, and Anakin's rage was… frightening, if Obi-Wan were honest. //Talk to me, my friend.//

Anakin shuddered, pushed his head into Obi-Wan's petting hand, and after a wary moment he stopped bracing against the lecture and disappointment he'd expected and took a slow breath. He slipped away slightly from the mental connection, trying to get his anger back under his control, and said aloud instead of across the bond, "I know who Sidious is." 

Obi-Wan's hand stilled and there was nothing but shock in the bond. "Who?!" came in an explosive breath, as Obi-Wan yearned for an end to the killing.

Anakin tried to shape the words, failed the first time, as that desperate longing to _make it stop_ resonated against his own and he clung a little harder. He swallowed, dry throat clicking, and swallowed again before he could say, his voice unsteady even then, "The Chancellor." 

Obi-Wan had a multitude of emotions, but he made certain to make sympathy rise up to the top for Anakin's sake. "I'm sorry, Anakin. I know his friendship has meant much, and to have a betrayal that close… I have no words, as I cannot understand what you must feel." Qui-Gon would have, but Qui-Gon was twelve years dead now.

Anakin took a shaking breath, half-surprised as Obi-Wan gave him so much of his sympathy, his care, and nodded a little. "I -- don't know if there are any. But it... I don't know if I'm more angry or more hurt. And... I'm afraid, Master. Of what may be lying in my head, waiting." 

"Ahh." So Obi-Wan could be useful and practical, it seemed to the elder Jedi. He buckled down on all of his emotions, sweeping them into their neat little cage inside himself, and reached again for Anakin's mind. //You need assistance looking. I can do that.// He was calm, a still lake with reflective surfaces, so that he would not add anything to any emotional storm they set loose.

Anakin frowned, leaning against Obi-Wan, not liking the feeling of that, but then his Master's voice brushed along his mind, steady and calm and reassuring. //Yes,// he agreed, taking a few slow breaths. He was... more than uncertain about this, about letting Obi-Wan so deep into his mind, but there was no other option. His Master was the only one he could trust with -- 

The thought interrupted itself, a sudden uncertainty replacing his resolve, as Obi-Wan's disapproving expression seemed to surface in his mind. 

"Well, that's not going to work, Anakin, if you think that of me," Obi-Wan said aloud. He shifted so he could actually see his former padawan's face. "You have secrets. I know this. I've tried to not pry at them, but situations keep handing me pieces.

"I know about Padmé, knew you and she had found something by the time you were in the arena. Because of her growing a bit upset with how I handled intruding on you on Naboo, she wound up losing her temper at me, and I know that something awful happened with your mother, but not what. Does this help you believe I will be calm as we do this, and not judge you at all?"

Anakin blinked, pulled out of his thoughts and the link alike, listening to him -- really listening, and... He knew? 

He knew, had known, and hadn't -- hadn't -- 

But if he actually knew the details, knew all of what he had done, would he still say that? Could he actually trust -- 

Trust. 'You can trust me, Anakin' murmured in the back of his mind in a very different voice, and he felt the expression he wore in a fight settle across his face as another wave of bitter fury ran through him. "It's tied to you," he said, his voice as light and idle as he was furious. "What he's done, what they warned me about, it's _tied to you_." 

The Chancellor had deliberately sabotaged his bond with his Master. 

"Of course he did." Obi-Wan thought back over the years, how that boy that had been so glad to meet him, the one that had drawn him away from his grief and rage had slowly become a teen that wouldn't talk to him outside of a mission, that wanted to argue every single point from what to eat to where they should go next. 

//I swear by all I hold dear, you will not face any recriminations from me. I may offer counsel, but it's your choice to accept it or not.//

//Just help me _break this_ ,// Anakin answered, shifting his weight and posture so that he could get his hand wrapped around his Master's. So much of his conflict about Obi-Wan suddenly made _sense_ , and his fury burned a little hotter. He'd loved Obi-Wan once, fiercely and completely, and part of him still did. He needed that to fight this, to free his own mind from the suggestions in it. He held on, looking at Obi-Wan and remembering the best times they had had, the moments that everything was perfect and they reacted like two halves of a single being. _That_ was what they were supposed to be, should have been... 

//And we will be, again, my friend,// Obi-Wan promised him, before sinking deeply into Anakin's mind, as gentle as he could be. Just his presence was making so many little traps flare hot and bright, trying to make Anakin fight this, push Obi-Wan away, even… hurt him, or worse. Obi-Wan, with a single thought, flung his own lightsaber far away, making himself more vulnerable to Anakin, just to show his willingness to get through this.

//Yes,// Anakin agreed, all of his determination focused on that very goal, as Obi-Wan's lightsaber sliding to a halt against the far wall -- Obi-Wan opening his defenses so much -- broke some of the traps apart, now that he was already focused on doing that. //We will. I won't. be. manipulated. I _refuse_.// 

//Of course you do. You are Anakin, and you are the only master you will accept,// Obi-Wan said with a hint of whimsical appreciation for Anakin's free spirit. He focused on the spots that were troublesome, trying his limited healing as they were wrongnesses to be undone.

Anakin laughed across the bond at that, leaning into the feeling of that affection, letting Obi-Wan work against the things that were still not-right in his mind as he threw himself against them, too. 

Together, the team had overcome so many obstacles through this war, and now was no different. They were both drenched in sweat from effort by the time they were fairly certain they had undone everything that could have pushed Anakin towards a Fall, and Obi-Wan fell back against the couch with extreme fatigue.

"Remind me deep techniques like that are better suited for when I am not straight from a battle," he said, but it was light and teasing. His eyes closed for a moment, just letting himself rest in the hope that they would find a way to take Palpatine down and end this war.

Anakin snorted, amused and exhausted, and murmured, "Aye, that. Kriff, but my head hurts." 

He felt... calmer, steadier in his mind, more sure of himself in some ways -- and more unsure in others, as the utterly self-confident arrogance the Chancellor had fed had taken such a beating during the long hour or hours this had taken. 

"You're still you, Anakin. Everything that has led to this point may have a shadow of deceit on it, but it is you that has won us through so many hard times," Obi-Wan told him, looking over, reaching a hand out to find Anakin's. "Do not doubt yourself now, or you will make different mistakes that lead to a dark path. 

"Place your faith in your skill, in the Force, in those you hold as your anchors against the storms."

Anakin felt a smile come to his lips, unsought but welcome, as he clung to that hand, looking into his Master's eyes. "...Thank you, Obi-Wan. I... think I needed to hear that. 

"I just hope _he_ couldn't feel us fighting all of that, or we may be in a worse simoon." 

"Hmm, there is that." Obi-Wan reached for his wrist comm, and then realized it wasn't synced with the _Resolute_. "Loan me your comm, Anakin. I need to be able to reach the Temple."

"Um. Rex has it. I didn't want the Chancellor to be able to reach me directly," Anakin explained quickly at the look shot his way. "Especially before you got here and we could tackle this." 

"Damn. I wanted to point Mace in the right direction, discreetly, to see if that simoon is coming our way," Obi-Wan said with a shake of his head. "And I am too bloody tired to even think of going to find your Captain. Or to go use the comm chambers."

Anakin snorted and pointed at the starboard left corner of the room. "Comm to the bridge is right there, Obi-Wan, Rex ought to be there. Or Snips can send him our way." 

Didn't his Master ever spend time in his quarters? 

"Ahh, that's what that's for," Obi-Wan said so deadpan that he might have been seriously unaware of it. "Might be best for you to make contact? It is your ship, after all, and your people."

Anakin tilted his head slightly, studying Obi-Wan's face intently, before he nodded. That was, he thought, Obi-Wan being careful not to rile him -- how had he let his temper get that far out of his control? -- and he was glad of it. "All right. Though I bet it's more that you just don't want to get up," he said with a wry grin at his Master before he pushed upright by pure effort of will. "I just got the sand off, now I get to deal with everything sweat-through?" 

"Oh the horrors. All the grit and roughness and coarse scratchiness of sand," Obi-Wan teased him. "The universe hates you, to send you to Tatooine for every major change in your life." He watched Anakin, trying to better understand how they had come to this point, to see how he could better protect and guide his young friend now that the lies were stripped away.

Anakin looked around for something to throw at him -- making the search obvious -- and sighed after a moment. He spent too much time in space, and in battles at that, to leave anything just lying around. His first instinct was to agree, because Tatooine had never brought him anything but pain, and rage, and loss... but now there was the memory of Luke, of that young man (older than he was, actually) and his haunted eyes and hopeful smile, and of Leia, even only seen from a distance, to hold against that. 

"Mmm. 'Hate' might be too strong a term, but does it _have_ to be sand?" 

"We all have to bear our burdens." For Obi-Wan it was laboratories, all things medical, sharp reminders of Qui-Gon in the clutches of a literal mad scientist. He'd wanted to go stark raving mad at the Kamino facility, and focused so hard on the mission to get through it.

There was something in those words, something deeply buried and that his Master didn't want to face... now wasn't the time to prod at it, when they were both exhausted and so open to each other. He reached the comm unit and tapped it to life. "Snips? How are things?" 

"Boring, Master, which means an attack should happen any time now, right?" she came back, and she didn't sound like she had noticed anything odd in his quarters. "What can I do for you, Skyguy?"

"Get one of the shineys on deck to run my comm down here, since I'm sure Rex's busy," he answered, amused and hoping she was wrong all at once. Neither of them were in any state for a fight, not right now. 

Not that they wouldn't manage anyway, it would just suck. 

"I'll send someone to get Rex; I actually kicked him off the bridge," she told him cheerfully. "He was starting to do the paranoid 'how many different directions can they come from' and I decided he had been on duty too long.

"And there's what you told me, so he did need to go ask for volunteers for my watch roster," she added. "But you'll have your comm pretty quick."

Anakin made an amused noise, "Alright, then. See you shortly, Snips." 

Obi-Wan looked amused. "She's every bit as impertinent with you as you were with me," he told his former padawan. "But she does it better." He sat up to get out of the heavier layers of his robes and outer tunic, shedding the armor bits Cody insisted were not enough but were all he could stand to wear most days.

"Hey!" Anakin protested, before he just shook his head and half-smiled. "I think I resemble that remark. Also, it works for us. Go on, get cleaned up, you'll feel at least a little better." 

"Thank you." Obi-Wan pushed himself to standing, ignoring half-healed lacerations and bruises as he went to use the 'fresher, carrying the clothing with him to let the sonics have a go at them.

Roughly ten minutes later, a knock at the door told Anakin the comm had arrived.

He wrapped the robe fully around his body and went to open it, not bothering to brush his awareness over the other's mind since they were on the _Resolute_. 

Fives was on the other side, and he gave a quick grin. "Shineys are all doing drills, so the Captain sent me," he offered as explanation as he held out the comm. "Sir," he added, realizing that he had been a little less polite than he should have been. He was radiating good vibes, though, which meant the troops were entertaining themselves well in the lull.

Anakin rolled his eyes and reached for the comm, glad to have the gauntlet back in his possession now that he could be sure of his own mind again. "Got to get them sharp enough to run with us, right Fives? And thanks."

"Any time, General." Fives took back off at a trot, not bothering to add that the senior troops were holding contests to land themselves on Ahsoka's buddy list. The General didn't need to know that the request for volunteers had gotten over half the company involved.

Anakin shut the door, snapped his gauntlet back on, and went to collapse on the bed until Obi-Wan got out of his 'fresher and he could take it back over. 

Obi-Wan did finally emerge, wearing nothing but his small clothes at this point. He was too used to the livid coloration of the war's efforts to kill him mapped out on his body, so didn't think twice about it. He wanted his clothes to have more time to actually air out.

"Did you get your comm?" he asked as he draped his clothes over the couch back.

Anakin raised his left arm from where he was sprawled out, showing the gauntlet against his skin, and then actually looked Obi-Wan's way. "Dear good -- is there anywhere you _aren't_ bruised?! For kriff's sake, Master, _I'm_ not in that bad a shape!" 

Obi-Wan looked at the mottling on his chest and legs, his arms, then shrugged. "It's all healing. Trying protect some of the men from a building and misjudged where to stand as the debris crashed," he told his friend. He opted to tuck his body on the couch, even if it was too short for even his modest height. "Let me make that call while you clean up."

Anakin growled at his Master and brother, not appreciating that answer and well aware that he was terrible at healing and too exhausted to try it anyway, and got up off the bed with a grumble to walk over and give Obi-Wan his comm before heading for the 'fresher. Obi-Wan shouldn't be in worse shape than he was, and that careless shrug about it all healing... 

Obi-Wan tuned the comm gauntlet for a secure call directly to the Council chamber; someone, hopefully Mace, should be monitoring it. "This is Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said, going for voice only.

"Master Kenobi," Adi Gallia's voice answered him, "what do you need?" 

"Requesting Master Windu if he is available, Master Adi. If he's not, Master Yoda can assist me." Obi-Wan didn't, couldn't think about Siri. Too many other bad experiences had already been stirred up in his memories, and he was learning he was not as good as he needed to be in letting go.

"He left for his quarters a few minutes ago, I'll call him back," Adi Gallia answered, and flicked her will out at Master Windu, telling him he was needed back within the Council chambers. 

Mace Windu had a screaming headache and complete awareness that Kenobi-and-Skywalker had just done something universe-changing. He'd been intending to retreat to his quarters to meditate, hoping to see more than the perpetual cloud by virtue of their both being Jedi, when Adi called. It had to be important, so he turned himself around and trotted back towards the Council chambers. 

"Obi-Wan Kenobi is on comm," Adi told him before withdrawing to grant privacy to the two men for their discussion.

"Master Windu, I fear I must ask you to try and reach past the darkness encroaching our lives," Obi-Wan began. "And keep an eye toward the body that the Count told me, before the Arena, was under sway of a Sith. I'd like at least a little warning before the hidden Master strikes at Anakin or myself."

"What have you two done this time?" Mace asked, though he was fairly sure that he wasn't going to get an actual answer. 'The body the Count told me'... the Senate. Truly under the sway of the Sith? "...he played us. By telling us outright," he didn't bother finishing the rest of the sentence. 

"Oh, completely," Obi-Wan said, hoping Mace realized he didn't mean the fact they had been played as fools, but that the Senate was completely under the Sith's sway. "Anakin and I will be a bit busy with our latest intel."

Completely -- Mace's mouth tightened, hard, and he nodded once. "I understand, Obi-Wan. May the Force be with you both." 

"And with you, Master Windu," Obi-Wan said, before closing the comm and trying to get comfortable. He had work to do, they both did, and yet… he knew he was exhausted. An hour of rest would go a long way. He closed his eyes, tucking his knees up a little, and was all but unconscious by the time Anakin emerged from the 'fresher.

Anakin saw his Master -- badly bruised and obviously exhausted -- having tried to get comfortable on the too-small couch, and shook his head. He moved over, murmuring, "It's me, Master," before picking him in in a weak Force grip along with his own strength to move him to the bed. 

"mmm," Obi-Wan murmured, the fuzziness of his mind letting Anakin know this was not unusual, as he half-thought in his sleepy state that it was merely Cody looking after him again. He settled into much deeper sleep when he was stretched out on the bed, though there was a very brief instinctive sound of displeasure at Anakin shifting away from putting him down.

Anakin blinked for a moment, startled at his Master making such a protest, but that settled what he was doing before the question had even really lifted itself to his mind. He let the outer robe he'd wrapped himself in fall and settled into the bed, pulling sheet and blanket up over them both as he tucked himself back to back with Obi-Wan. 

That soothed the elder man completely, so they could both get much needed sleep.

+++++

Once he had awakened again, Anakin found that his plans to get out of bed were completely thwarted by the simple fact that his Master, dearest friend, and brother was wrapped almost as desperately around him as he had been clinging to Obi-Wan when he was awake. That, with everything else that Anakin had seen about his Master, kept him still and breathing lazily. 

The elder man, however, did not last much past Anakin waking, reacting to the slight difference in Anakin or just being truly rested now. There was a warm body sharing the bed, and while that wasn't completely out of the ordinary, Obi-Wan didn't remember being in a circumstance where it made sense.

So he opened his eyes, and almost immediately felt a blush rising, because he was completely and inappropriately cuddling his former padawan.

"Ahh, I am, ahem, sorry?" he offered as he realized Anakin was awake.

"Don't be," Anakin disagreed, shifting to wrap an arm around his Master. "Good -- whatever it is, does it matter? -- brother. You needed the rest." 

"I did," Obi-Wan admitted, surprised at being cuddled back. "I seem to have fallen into bad habits again when it comes to sharing a bed, though," he said, trying for humor.

"I don't think so," Anakin disagreed, shifting a little closer, though carefully. "I... like contact. Though 'fallen into... again'?" 

Obi-Wan's cheeks flushed redder, and he buried his face into Anakin's shoulder. "I find sharing beds … soothing. Even without the added complications of sex," he admitted.

He hadn't known his Master actually could blush like that, and Anakin hummed for a moment, quiet. "It is soothing," he answered, thinking about the rare occasions he was able to hold his wife through the night, or, more often, Ahsoka sleeping half across his legs. "Again, though?" he asked, honestly curious. Obi-Wan was so solitary... 

Obi-Wan sighed. "Cody's my usual victim these days, not that he actually minds, thank the Force, but … let's just say letting me share a bed was an adventure in propriety when I was younger." He had awakened in compromising positions with Siri, with Satine… with Quinlan that once, and oh he'd never lived it down… and then there had been his Master. Who had never, ever commented on the hands and legs in odd places, never let it phase him, until Obi-Wan managed to school his sleep to proper ways on those occasions they had to share quarters.

Anakin blinked, truly surprised, and patted at his Master's back with the fingertips of one hand, palm still flat against his back. "I wouldn't have guessed that." 

"How could you? I tried to be as circumspect as possible in my few affairs since you came into my life, and we've never been terribly close on the whole physical side of reassurance," Obi-Wan said honestly. "Mostly due to my own ineptitude with children and such."

"...and I was... well, me. Fairly wary of anyone that wasn't Master Qui-Gon at first... and then there was the Chancellor." Anakin thought it was something of a miracle that he could say that title evenly. 

Obi-Wan smiled encouragingly at him for that. "We probably ought to get started on cleaning up this entire catastrophe he has brought down on our heads before he shifts from the plans we know to something new."

"So we should," Anakin agreed, and slowly let go, willing to let Obi-Wan up and away from him now that he knew his Master was steadier. 

Together, they would tackle what Anakin had learned, and together, they would save the _Vod'e_ , the Order, and the Republic.

Because together, they were unstoppable.


End file.
